Imbalance
by Ms.K216
Summary: This is an AU where Aang and Korra are both Avatar at the same time due to Korra being born during the few minutes Aang was dead when Azula hit him with lightning in the Book 2 finale.
1. Spirit World Spark

**A/N: This is an AU where Aang and Korra are both Avatar at the same time due to Aang dying for a few minutes when Azula hit him with lightning. You will learn more details throughout the story. **

"Come on Korra! You can do it!" The twelve year old girl opened her eyes, sighing at yet another interruption.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to go into the Spirit World with you all watching me." She frowned, looking at the faces of her four young friends, only they shared the secret of Korra being the new Avatar. The young waterbender was too afraid to share the information with anyone else.

It's because Bolin keeps bothering, you isn't it?" Mako glared at his brother. Korra shook her head, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. Asami nodded in understanding.

"Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable?" Opal asked with a smile.

"No. I just need to do this by myself." The young Avatar got up, leaving her friends behind to find a quieter place to meditate. It was another attempt at trying to connect to the Spirit World and she didn't know what to do, she hadn't figured out how to get there yet. There were no airbenders around to give her guidance on the ancient ways of spirituality. After a few hours of sitting quietly and focusing on her breathing, Korra managed to find her way into the other world.

…

Keep it up!" Zuko cheered, rooting for Aang who was sparring blindfolded against Toph in an earthbending match. Sokka had bet that Toph could still take the fully realized Avatar even after twelve years of traveling together. Zuko thought age brought more finesse to Aang's fighting techniques. The two twenty-four year olds had gladly agreed to a friendly fight to see who was right.

Looks like you're going to be in charge of doing the dishes for the rest of the week, Zuko! Sokka jumped up and down in anticipation as Toph got in a few good hits.

"Oh leave him alone Sokka." Katara wrapped her arms around Zuko's waist, kissing his cheek as she watched the little match. The waterbending master and the new Fire Lord had been a couple ever since the Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula over a decade before.

When Zuko had been hit with the lightning, Katara had realized she was more upset at the thought of losing Zuko than she had ever been about losing Aang. When she was kneeling beside Zuko trying to heal him, Katara had felt like lightning had hit her own heart. Deep down she knew that she loved the firebender, it had taken almost losing him to make her see it. Adolescent Aang had been crushed when they told him, but respected Katara enough to let her find her own happiness. Aang was happy enough just to be Katara's best friend.

"Yeah, leave me alone Sokka." Zuko laughed, then turned back to the match. Aang was getting increasingly slower and slower until he passed out altogether.

"Aang!"The friends on the sidelines ran over to where Toph was crouched over the airbender.

...

"What's going on?" Aang asked out loud to nobody in particular. "Am I in the Spirit World? I don't remember meditating..." As if the Spirit World itself were trying to answer the question, the ground began to shake under Aang's feet. Trees and shrubs whizzed past him as he was transported by the world around him, finally coming to a stop in a little meadow. Aang looked around trying to get his bearings, something seemed different about the Spirit World today, but what could it be?

"Who are you?" Young Korra asked, coming up behind Aang. That was what was different. How could another person be in the Spirit World?

"I'm Aang…" The airbender smiled, crouching down so he was closer to Korra's height. "Who are you?" He asked, being friendly as always.

"I'm Korra." She replied, still wondering about the man in front of her. "How are you here?"

"Well that's easy! I'm the Avatar, I'm the bridge between the Spirit World and the Physical World. A better question is how are you here? I've never seen another person in the Spirit World." Aang watched as Korra's face fell and she took a few steps back.

"No! You're lying!" She turned and ran from him, not believing the story about him being the Avatar since that's who she was herself.

"Wait! Come back Korra! I'm not lying!" Aang being twice Korra's age caught up to her quickly, placing both of his hands on her shoulders to stop her.

"You're lying! You aren't the Avatar!" Korra's eyes filled with tears, she was afraid and very confused. "Only one person can be the Avatar!" Korra buried her face in her hands, terrified but at the same time compelled to confess her identity to Aang. "I'm the Avatar."

"What?" Aang held his head in his hand, confused himself. "There's always only ever been one Avatar. It has been like that since the beginning. Are you sure you're the Avatar?"

"I'm sure." Korra nodded, trying to produce a flame in her hand to prove to Aang that she was telling the truth. Her eyes grew large when nothing happened, she tried a few more times before Aang spoke up.

"It's okay, bending doesn't work in the Spirit World." He sighed, sitting down in the lotus position before her. "Sit. I want to figure this out with you." Korra obliged, sitting cross-legged in the soft grass, something about Aang made Korra feel like she could trust him.

"How are we going to figure this out?" She sighed, picking at a few blades of grass. Aang sighed, realizing he was doing the same thing.

"Okay, so let's start here. I'm an Air Nomad, which means the next Avatar should be a member of the Water Tribe." He looked her over, noticing her bright blue eyes and her traditional Water Tribe clothes. Korra laughed.

"Yes. I come from the Southern Water Tribe."

"Cool. I come from the Southern Air Temple." Aang smiled, watching Korra light up at the similarity of southern roots. "What have your masters told you about your bending?"

"I…" Korra bit her lip, dreading this part of the conversation. "I don't have any masters."

"What do you mean?" Aang looked puzzled, even though he'd gone about training with masters in a round about sort of way, he'd still had masters to teach him.

"I mean I don't have any masters!" Korra crossed her arms, looking away from Aang.

"But if you're the Avatar then wouldn't someone have told you and started training you?"

"Nobody ever came and told me. I figured it out on my own when I learned that I could waterbend, earthbend, and firebend. I'm still working on airbending but I haven't been able to do it yet."

"Wait a second! You mean to tell me that nobody know's you're the Avatar?" Aang stared at the girl before him.

"Well only four people know besides us. I'm too scared to tell anyone." Korra picked at more grass. "Does that make me bad?" She looked up at Aang, her blue eyes shining. Aang sighed, remembering the time that he hadn't wanted anyone to know he was the Avatar either.

"No, that doesn't make you bad. You need to embrace your life as the Avatar though. You need to learn." Aang passed on the wisdom Katara and Sokka had taught him in hopes of saving Korra the trouble of figuring it out on her own. "We're getting off topic. We need to sort this out."

"You're right." Korra let herself fall back into the grass. Aang sighed, thinking for a while.

"How old are you?" Aang asked suddenly getting an idea.

"What?" Korra propped herself up on her elbows, wondering why Aang had asked that specific question.

"Korra are you twelve?!" Aang grinned, hoping he'd figured out what had gotten them into this mess.

"Yes…" Korra sat up. "What does that have to do with anything?" She was looking at the airbender like he'd grown a second head. Aang jumped up.

"I think I know what happened! According to the monks, the Avatar Spirit moves on to the next element in the cycle when the acting Avatar dies. I died when I was twelve years old, I'm twenty-four now so that means you were born when I was twelve!"

"I didn't ask for a math lesson Aang." Korra rolled her eyes, then the meaning of what Aang had said really sunk in. "What do you mean,_ died_?!"

"I was in a fight against the Fire Princess and my friend Zuko in the Crystal Catacombs-" Korra cut him off.

"You were fighting against your friend?" She raised an eyebrow looking at Aang skeptically, he laughed.

"Zuko is the Fire Lord now. He used to be bad, but now he's good, it's a long story. Anyway, his sister Azula shot me with some lightning and I ended up dying." Aang frowned, thinking back to that day and how Katara had saved his life. "My best friend Katara saved me, but I'd been dead for a few minutes before she revived me."

"Wow." Korra stood up, looking at him in awe. She didn't know what else there really was to say.

"The Avatar Spirit must have been split when it was leaving me to go to you… Maybe that's how I got here without meditating."

"Well, this is my first time in the Spirit World." Korra reminded him, smiling when she realized that she'd accomplished something that was a big deal for an Avatar all without training.

"Our paths are intertwined now Korra." Aang smiled down at his new friend. "You're the Avatar just as much as I am."

"So we're both the Avatar." Korra smiled. "Does that mean we're like brother and sister?" Her youth shown through in the question, but Aang welcomed the idea.

"Yeah." Aang smiled. "In a way we are like brother and sister."

"I don't know what we're going to do now." Korra sighed. "It was easy for me to trust you once I realized you weren't lying. I wish you could help me become a better Avatar."

"Maybe I can, Korra. We should meet up again." He told her, placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

"But I don't know how I even got here in the first place. I don't think I can do it whenever I want, I've been trying to do this for a few months now." Korra looked at the ground, but Aang tilted her head up so she was looking again.

"Don't be sad." Aang sighed, thinking of possible solutions. "I got it! I'll meet you in the Physical World. Maybe I can take you with me to meet my friends. Between the six of us in my group we have a master of every element and two of the worlds best hand to hand fighters." Aang clapped his hands together. "It's perfect! What do you think?"

"It might be okay." Korra's mood brightened at the idea. "What will you tell my parents?"

"What do you mean?" Aang hadn't thought of the idea that Korra might have parents who wouldn't approve of this plan on account of him not having an authority figure when he was twelve.

"My parents don't know I'm the Avatar." Korra looked away from Aang, ashamed. "Do you think you could just show up and I could pretend I didn't know?" Korra's eyes shone with unshed tears, but Aang knew he couldn't lie.

"How about we come up with that plan when the time comes?"

"Okay, Aang." Korra smiled half-heartedly. "I'm going to miss you big brother." Aang stooped to her level, hugging her gently, he was already rather fond of sharing the Avatar Spirit with her.

"You'll see me in a few days little sister. Where do you live?"

"I live in Republic City."

**A/N: More explaining will happen as the fic develops, I promise. **

**Also, I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all my friends from the forums who are reading for helping me out with this when I needed it! Biggest thank you goes to elations, who I've PMed countless times about this AU. **


	2. Telling Team Avatar

**A/N: Just wanted to thank you all for showing so much love for this fic! The topic is so obscure that I was worried about how people would react to the story. So thank each and everyone of you who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, and supported chapter one. Also, a **_**huge**_** thank you to elations for beta-ing this. **

"Aang!" Katara smiled, hovering above Avatar's face.

"Katara?" Aang blinked, remembering the time he'd woken up in her arms like this twelve years ago in the iceberg. He sighed, pushing the memory away as he remembered that he hadn't entered the Spirit World normally. "What happened?" Aang asked, sitting up. The rest of his friends were in a loose semi-circle around him, which reminded him he had been sparring with Toph at Zuko's beach house.

"You passed out." Suki frowned.

"I told you guys, he was just scared that I was going to beat him. The fear was too much for him and he passed out." Toph tried to joke around, but her lighthearted tone was forced. Aang rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Are you alright though?" Zuko asked, holding a hand out to help Aang up, which the airbender accepted gratefully.

"I'm fine you guys. I was called into the Spirit World. That's all." Aang smiled, trying to brush it off. When he noticed his friends staring at him he looked away, trying to wipe nonexistent dirt off his pants. He was arguing with himself inside his head. Everything the airbender stood for told him not to lie or leave things out, but he felt a strange responsibility to protect Korra.

"What do you mean 'called into the Spirit World'? I thought you could only go into the Spirit World when you meditated into it." Sokka asked suspiciously, standing and helping his girlfriend up. The others looked at Aang expectantly. The Avatar chewed on his lip, thinking. He still wasn't sure if he should tell his friends about Korra until he met her in person and saw that she was real.

"Raava called me." It wasn't a complete lie. If Korra really was telling the truth then part of the Avatar Spirit, part of Raava, was inside of her too. The three of them were tethered; intertwined in a way nobody else would truly understand.

"Raava?" Katara put her hands on her hips, looking skeptically at her friend. "I've known you for twelve years Aang! Spill! Now!" Aang sighed, there were no secrets between friends on Team Avatar.

"Let's go inside, I have to talk to you all and I don't want anyone else overhearing." The Avatar led his friends into the house and sat at the kitchen table, waiting for them to settle in.

"What's up Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked, propping her feet up on Zuko's dining room table. Aang sighed at the nickname, he was twenty-four years old, a fully realized Avatar, yet Toph still felt the need to call him by the embarrassing name. Aang decided to let it go for now and looked at each of his friends before speaking.

"I wasn't lying. Raava pulled me into the Spirit World."

"Aang you control Raava's spirit, I don't see how that could even be a possibility." Sokka was the one to point out.

"Normally, I'd agree with you." Aang hesitated a little bit, but Zuko pressed him for information.

"What do you mean 'normally'?" Aang sat down at the table, twiddling his thumbs so he wouldn't have to make eye contact.

"I mean… while I was in the Spirit World I met a little girl." Finally the airbender faced his friends.

"She says she's the Avatar."

"Toph, are you sure you didn't hit him in the head with a rock or something?!" Katara looked at Aang like he'd lost it completely. Toph chuckled.

"No, but it would've been funny if I had!" Toph laughed again.

"Hilarious." Sokka shook his head. "Aang, what little girl told you she was the Avatar?" He asked, leaning forward so he wouldn't miss a word.

"Her name is Korra. She's from the Water Tribe and she's twelve years old."

"Well, how could that even be possible? The Avatar is only reborn when the previous one dies. You're not dead." Katara was thinking out loud, not putting the two variables together the way Aang and Korra had.

"Yeah." Suki nodded in agreement. "Besides, I thought only spirits lived in the Spirit World. Not little girls. Maybe it was just a spirit playing games with you."

"Spirits don't play games like that. I think you guys are missing the point. Korra was born twelve years ago, when I died." Aang sighed, about to explain when Zuko spoke up.

"When you died..." Zuko hung his head in shame. "Azula hit you with her lightning twelve years ago while we were fighting with you and Katara." He didn't like thinking back to the fight in the Crystal Catacombs, it was one of the darkest times in his life.

"Wait! What?" Suki was lost, she hadn't been there for the fight that had left Aang lifeless before Katara revived him.

"I sorta… died… in that fight." Aang looked up at Suki sheepishly.

"You really died?!" The shock was clear on her face.

"Katara brought him back. She had some water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole that was supposed to have special healing properties." Zuko explained, turning his face away from the others. He was remembering how Katara had almost used the water to heal his scar not long before the fight broke out. Katara hugged his arm, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Quickly she kissed his scar, knowing what he was thinking about and how it hurt him to remember his past.

"Korra and I were talking about it. I'm almost positive she was born during those few minutes that I was dead. It makes sense. Water would've been the next element in the Avatar cycle and Korra's twelve."

"So what you're saying is you think the Avatar Spirit… split?" Katara asked, trying to understand what Aang was trying to get at.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Aang smiled, relieved that someone finally had an idea of what he was talking about.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Toph asked, putting her feet down and resting her elbows on the table.

"I told Korra that I would meet her in person so we could figure it out together. She lives in Republic City."

"Well, we're coming with you." Sokka crossed his arms. "You aren't going anywhere near this Korra kid without us."

"Agreed." Toph stood up. "She could be using this as a plot to kill you and claim the Avatar Spirit for herself." Aang's eyes went wide. How could his friends think his new little sister was capable of even thinking such things at twelve years old?

"I don't think Korra's going to hurt me. She thinks I'm her brother…" Aang tried to explain.

"Well it can't hurt to have us there to welcome her to our group." Zuko pointed out, trying to be the voice of reason for a change.

"Zuko's right Aang. How can you be going to meet this little girl without Team Avatar to back you up?" Katara smiled.

"Well… I guess…" Aang sighed, not totally convinced, but he felt like there was nothing he could do otherwise. "I want to leave as soon as possible. Go get ready if you're really coming with me."

About a half an hour later Aang and the rest of Team Avatar were situated in Appa's saddle. Aang commanded him to take to the skies, letting a few minutes go by before he turned to look at his friends.

"Guys… I may have forgotten to tell you a tiny, little detail about Korra." He looked squeamish as the group collectively glared at him. As if a second Avatar wasn't bad enough.

"What could you possibly have left out!?" Zuko yelled, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.

"I may have forgotten to tell you that she never told anyone important that she's the Avatar."

"Oh come on! That's ridiculous!" Sokka yelled, crossing his arms in annoyance. Aang frowned thinking back to how he hadn't told Katara or Sokka that he was the Avatar when they first found him. He sympathized with Korra.

"It's not ridiculous!" Aang yelled. "She's just scared Sokka! You would be too if you were in her shoes!" Aang shook his head, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. After he had regained his composure he went on. "Only four people knew before she told me. Her parents don't even know."

"So we're just going to show up and tell her parents that she's the Avatar?" Katara rolled her eyes. "Aang, the White Lotus would have found her by now and told her parents if she was the Avatar. I'm still not buying it." Katara sighed, leaning back into Zuko's chest. Aang rolled his eyes, frustrated.

"The White Lotus wouldn't have even been looking for her Katara! There was no reason for them to start looking while I'm still alive." A hint of annoyance was starting to settle into the Avatar again. Korra deserved the benefit of the doubt, but his friends didn't seem to agree.

"Twinkle Toes, I don't want to burst your bubble here, but you're the only one who thinks this girl is really the Avatar." Toph closed her eyes, resting against the pile of supplies the group had brought with them.

"Listen up! All of you!" Aang couldn't hide how upset their comments were making him anymore. "You guys aren't going to say another negative thing about Korra until you meet her and can prove to me one way or the other who's right! Until then she's the Avatar and you're going to talk about her the same way you would if it was me! Got it?" Aang took a deep breath, turning back around to face the open sky in front of him. He shook his head, one nagging thought occupying his mind... _Please let her be telling the truth_.


	3. Truly Two

A few day's had passed and Korra still hadn't told her friends about her meeting with Aang. In fact she hadn't even told them she'd made her way into the Spirit World. They didn't ask either, they all assumed that she hadn't been able to do it, the same as every other time she tried.

"Oh Naga…" Korra sighed, patting her polarbear-dog. "What am I going to do?" Naga nuzzled into Korra as the little Avatar clutched her fur. Korra was nervous at what would happen when Aang showed up.

"Korra, what are you doing out here all alone?" Her best friend Mako had walked out to the cliff to talk to her, the others were waiting about a hundred feet back, staying a safe distance from the ledge they weren't even supposed to be playing near.

"I'm not alone." Korra gestured to Naga, scratching her puppy behind the ears. Mako frowned.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about. You've been acting strange ever since the other day when you were trying to meditate. Did something happen?" Korra tensed at the accusation. So the awkward avoidance hadn't gone unnoticed by her little group afterall. She sighed.

"Umm…" The mini-Avatar frowned, looking at each of her friends concerned faces, the guilt was eating her alive. "No... What would make you say that?" Korra pressed into Naga's side as her friends walked over to her, tired of waiting.

"Korra what's going on with you?" Bolin asked, looking over to his brother and two friends for support.

"Was it Avatar stuff?" Opal pressed. Asami added another little dig right after her.

"You know you can tell us Korra. There aren't any secrets between members of The Krew." Asami crossed her arms. "There are no secrets right Korra?"

"I… I don't want to talk about it!" Korra hopped onto Naga's back. "Go Naga!" She yelled, staying low so they would get away from there faster. Her friends watched her go wearing a collective look of confusion.

"Something happened." Mako shook his head. "She won't tell me what but I've been friends with her long enough to know something's wrong."

"Agreed." Asami shook her head. "Something's been off about her ever since she came back from her meditation."

"I'm willing to bet she made it into the Spirit World." Opal frowned. "I wonder if that's what's been bothering her." The others nodded, contemplating this as they started the long walk back to Asami's house on the other side of Republic City.

…

"What did I just do Naga!" Korra paced back and forth in the woods, Naga watched Korra, her head following as her master walked past her again and again. "They're going to be so mad at me!" Korra clutched the two ponytails she wore in the front of her hair, tugging on them. "Naga! This couldn't possibly get any worse!" The small girl threw herself into the polarbear-dog's fur, crying. Naga let her stay there for a while before she perked up, seeing something strange in the sky. Whimpering, she stood up, knocking Korra onto the ground in the process. "Naga!" Korra chastised, wiping her eyes before looking to see what had upset her pet. After a moment the young Avatar locked eyes on a huge flying bison and knew it just had to be Aang. She mounted Naga in one swift motion and ordered her to go. Together they raced back to the peak of the mountain she'd left her friends at, passing them in the street on the way there.

"Korra stop!" Asami yelled as the two went blazing by. Asami frowned and looked at the others knowing all too well that this meant they would have to turn around and meet Korra at the cliff again. By the time they got there they saw a giant sky bison landing, Korra and Naga were hiding just at the edge of the treeline.

"Okay Aang, where is she?" Sokka jumped down off of Appa and looked around. Though Aang had tried to get his friends to see the situation from his point of view on the way to Republic City none of them were convinced Korra was tangible.

"We'll find her!" Aang smiled airbending himself onto the ground. "We didn't agree to meet at any specific place. I guess we were both just so surprised to meet each other in the Spirit World it slipped our minds." Korra took a deep breath, about to step out into the open.

"Korra!" Mako hissed, putting his hand on her shoulder, pulling her back into the trees. "What is all this!?"

"Mako!?" Korra spun around, looking at the rest of her friends, all of them looked tired from all the running around they'd been doing. "

"Korra what's going on?" Opal asked. Sometimes the non-bender thought joining the young Avatar's group was more trouble than it was worth.

"Avatar stuff okay. Please don't do this right now you guys!" Korra frowned as the four people she trusted most looked at her in disappointment. Their disapproval hurt, but she deserved it for lying to them. "I'm sorry. I just have to do this."

"But what _is_ this?" Bolin asked. Korra frowned, she knew she had to end the lies now.

"I did make it into the Spirit World the other day. When I was there I met Aang." Korra pointed to the young man with the arrow tattoos. "I don't have time to explain, but he's the Avatar too." The Krew stood there dumbfounded and Korra took the opportunity to step out of the trees with Naga.

"You guys look!" Katara shouted, pointing at Korra in shock. She slid out of the saddle with Toph, Suki, and Zuko, congregating next to Sokka and Aang. Aang took a few steps forward.

"Wait for her to introduce herself." Zuko whispered to the Avatar. Aang rolled his eyes but obliged, waiting for Korra to speak.

"Hi." Korra raised her hand in a weak wave, suddenly she was very nervous. "I'm Korra… this is Naga." She inched closer to her pet, running her fingers through her fur for comfort.

"And I'm Mako." Mako surprised Korra, placing his hand on her shoulder, squeezing to give her support. "This is Bolin, Opal, and Asami." Mako gestured to each of the friends surrounding Korra.

"Thanks." Korra smiled, covering Mako's hand with her own, grateful that her friends had come back to stand by her after the hard time she'd been giving them all week long.

"You didn't think we'd let you do Avatar stuff without The Krew now did you?" Opal smiled, hugging Korra from behind. Bolin stood beside his brother with Asami on his other side. Aang smiled.

"These must be your friends! It's nice to meet you in person Korra. You already know that I'm Aang." Aang turned to look at his friends pointing them out one at a time to Korra and her friends. "So, this is Team Avatar! We have Zuko and Katara, Suki and Sokka, this is Toph, and the big guy is Appa… oh and can't forget my leamer Momo!"

"Let's see some bending." Sokka crossed his arms, looking at Korra expectantly. "You don't look like an Avatar." He scrutinized her.

"I haven't mastered any of the other elements. I'm still learning water." Korra frowned as she got sour looks from Sokka and Zuko.

"Well lets see some waterbending." Katara walked up to Korra, pulling water out of her own pouch to bend with her. Katara wasn't sure if Korra was an Avatar or not yet, but she still didn't want to make Aang angry by giving her the cold shoulder right off the bat. Korra nodded, popping the top off her own water pouch as she took a few steps towards Katara. Korra nervously manipulated the water in front of her into a few shapes earning a smile from the more seasoned bender before her.

"I've been showing Korra some of my firebending." Mako offered, standing beside Korra. "Come on. Just like we practiced." Mako went through his form and lit a small flame in his hand grinning when Korra replicated the move after a few attempts.

"Did she just firebend?" Zuko looked surprised. "That's not possible! She just waterbended!" Aang smiled triumphantly, proud to see the little girl prove them all wrong.

"I know you said you can't airbend yet but can you show my friends some earthbending?" Aang stepped back, watching as Bolin traded spots with Mako.

"Alright Korra, you got this!" Bolin bended a small rock up out of the ground, moving it so it was in front of Korra. "Visualize. Don't let the rock move you, move the rock."

"Move the rock." Korra nodded, concentrating hard. Like Aang, earthbending wasn't the easiest element for her to pick up. After a while she managed to send the rock flying off the end of the cliff.

"I'm not impressed." Toph sighed, bending a few of her own rocks off the ledge. "I can definitely see some of Aang in her." The earthbender chuckled, Aang ignored her, walking over to Korra.

"So do we all agree that Korra and I are both the Avatar?" He draped his arm around her shoulder smiling down at her. The members of Team Avatar begrudgingly agreed.

"Well, I don't understand it, but I think you're right Aang." Zuko sighed, running his hands through his hair, still trying to take it all in.

"She's definitely an Avatar." Suki agreed, Katara nodded.

"She's definitely another you Twinkle Toes. Poor kid." Toph teased, knowing that the nickname would strike a nerve with Aang. To her this was payback for being proven wrong about Korra.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold up!" Asami crossed her arms. "Korra we know you're the Avatar but what about him?" The rest of The Krew seemed to be coming to an agreement about this.

"We want to see Aang bend."

"Guys!" Korra frowned. Aang laughed though.

"You want to see some bending? Well alright. May I?" Aang held his hand out for Korra's water pouch, she gave it to him without question. After popping the top off Aang bent the water sky high and froze it, letting ice shards fall a little ways before he pulled up a rock disc and threw it underneath the sharp pieces to catch them. Korra watched, utterly amazed by Aang's display as he sent little puffs of fire out in every direction like fireworks.

"Stop showing off. Just bend for the kids!" Sokka had just voiced what the rest of Aang's friends had been thinking, they all knew what a show off Aang could be. Aang just laughed and moved on to showing them his air scooter, riding around a bit before coming to a stop in front of Korra's friends.

"Are you guys ready to see the most amazingly awesome airbending trick in the entire world!?" The younger group looked at him expectantly while Team Avatar groaned.

"Please not the marble trick!" Zuko groaned as Aang reached into his pocket and pulled out three small marbles, launching them into a spiral in his hand, he had a stupid grin plastered on his face. Korra was mesmerized.

"You've gotta teach me that!" She grinned up at the older Avatar.

"Don't encourage him! That trick is so lame!" Zuko grumbled, Katara just laughed and wrapped her arms around him.

"At least if he's playing with Korra we won't need to see the marbles anymore." She smiled, noticing as Zuko's mood brightened. Aang looked over at them rolling his eyes.

"You don't appreciate true bending genius like my little sister here does." He smiled and messed up Korra's hair. "These are for you." He handed her the marbles. Korra smiled and squeezed them in her hand. She vowed to spend everyday practicing airbending until she was as good as the airbender in front of her.

"Thank you Aang!" She turned and looked over to her group. "So do you believe me now! Aang is my super cool Avatar brother!"

"Brother and sister?! When will this madness end!" Sokka sighed, letting himself fall back into Appa's side, Suki gave him a disapproving look wanting him to set a better example for the younger kids.

"Yes." Mako meekly answered for the group. All four of Korra's friends were still blown away by Aang's performance.

"Then it's settled. I'm going to help train Korra to be the Avatar. It'll be fun! We'll travel the world together helping her master the elements! We'll go penguin sledding and ride the elephant koi! I want to try riding the unagi again too! Doesn't that sound fun?!" Aang hopped up onto Appa, too caught up in his own excitement to notice Korra's face falling with each new adventure he listed.

"Yes, but Aang…" Korra looked sick with fear, all traces of her joyful mood were crushed as she clutched Naga's fur. "What about my parents?"


	4. The Avatar's Not Welcome

"Aang, I'm scared. What if they're mad at me?" Korra frowned, standing on the front porch of her house with Aang. Her friends had asked if she wanted them to tag along, but she'd said she and Aang needed to do this alone. Aang's friends seemed to understand, offering to wait with the younger group until the two Avatars got back.

"Korra." Aang crouched before the young girl so he was at eye level with her. "It's okay to be scared. I know that being the Avatar is a huge responsibility. When I found out I was the Avatar I was terrified! I was alone, with nobody to count on in the beginning. My friends abandoned me, but your's didn't abandon you. You have Mako, Bolin, Opal, and Asami." Aang paused for a moment, smiling. "And now you have me, little sister. I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise."

"Thank you." Korra hugged Aang close. After a minute she took a deep breath and pushed the front door open and walked inside with Aang following behind her.

"Korra!" Senna yelled, running over to wrap Korra in her arms. She never took her eyes off Aang as she pulled her daughter away from him. "Tonraq! Get down here!"

"Mom!" Korra struggled to get out of her mother's arms. She felt bad that her mother was treating Aang this way. Her dad came down the stairs just as Senna tried to capture Korra again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's going on? Who's this?" Tonraq looked to his daughter for an explanation.

"This is Aang!" Korra pushed her mother away again, going over to Aang to take his hand. She smiled up at him before turning to look at her parents again. "He's the Avatar!"

"The…" Senna's face turned a million different shades of pink. "I'm so sorry!" She bowed to Aang asking for his forgiveness.

"Oh! That's okay!" Aang smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "I'd be a little freaked out too if I had a daughter bring home someone twice her age."

"Yes…" Senna agreed weakly, grateful when Aang continued on to change the subject.

"I came here because there's something Korra and I need to talk to you guys about." When Aang said this, Korra tightened her hand around his. The older Avatar looked down at the younger one, squeezing her hand gently for support.

"Please, right this way." Tonraq led them to the kitchen taking Senna's hand as they walked. Both parents were wondering what business their daughter could possibly have with the Avatar. Once the four of them were seated around the table Aang looked to Korra.

"Would you like to tell them?" He asked. Korra frowned, shaking her head.

"No! You do it!" Korra looked terrified.

"Okay." Aang put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently before turning his attention on Korra's parents again. "I know this is going to sound strange coming from me, but Korra is the Avatar."

"What!" Senna choked out.

"Korra what is he talking about?" Tonraq demanded. Korra didn't answer. She couldn't even look at her parents as Aang started explaining their situation. She didn't even pay attention as he rehashed the events that took place in the Spirit World. She didn't even register the words being said around the table as Aang and her parents had a conversation about how the Avatar Spirit had managed to split between the airbender and herself. Korra felt exposed. The secret she'd worked so hard to keep from her parents for all these years was out in the open now. It terrified her.

"So you're trying to tell us that our daughter is the Avatar?" Korra's father crossed his arms. He didn't seem to believe what Aang was telling him. "Is this true Korra?" He turned his attention to his daughter, but she wasn't paying attention.

"I want proof." Senna copied her husband, crossing her arms as she looked across the table to at Korra. "Let's see some bending."

"Korra!" Tonraq shouted. "Are you even listening?" He shook his head, glaring at Aang. Aang frowned, shaking Korra's shoulder.

"What do you say Korra?" Aang smiled. "Can you show your mom and dad some bending... Avatar style?" Finally the smaller Avatar looked up at Aang. Her look of sheer terror caused his smile to disappear. "Korra? Are you okay?"

"Get out of my house!" Senna yelled. "How can you do this to her? She's no Avatar!" Senna stood up slamming her hands on the table. "Korra I don't want you associating with this man again! Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"B… but mom! I am the Avatar!" Korra managed to squeak out. Aang frowned sadly, he felt bad for his little sister.

"You're not making this any easier for her. This is why she chose not to share who she was with anyone who could help her. Can't you see how afraid she is?" Aang said the words calmly and rationally, trying to get Senna and Tonraq to understand the weight of their actions. The words only served to make the situation even more tense. Tonraq took a deep breath, rising from his seat to lean over the table.

"Let me make myself clear." Tonraq poked his finger into Aang's chest. "You are to stay away from my daughter. You've overstayed your welcome. Now get out before I kick you out!" Tonraq shoved Aang backwards towards the door. "The Avatar is not welcome in my home!"

"Yes sir. I'm sorry Korra." Aang sighed sadly, he couldn't face Korra as he turned to go. Seeing how upset her brother was sent Korra over the edge. She glared up at her parents.

"Aang wait!" Korra yelled, looking directly at her parents. "If the Avatar isn't welcome in your house then I have to go too!" She stood up, her fists shaking from a combination of fear and anger. Korra took a deep breath and levitated a large chunk of their stone floor, throwing it across the room before producing a good sized flame in her palm, and finally extinguishing it a stream of water. Senna and Tonraq were shocked. Aang beamed with pride. He knew the only reason Korra had had the courage to display her bending in front of her parents was because she was standing up for him.

"Korra." Senna breathed, reaching to pull Korra in a hug.

"No!" Korra screamed, angry tears filling her eyes. "I'm not allowed here anymore! You just said the Avatar isn't welcome in this house!" The young Avatar's tears finally spilled as she raced past Aang and ran out the front door.

"Nice." Aang shook his head. He could take being yelled at by Korra's parents but in his mind they'd crossed the line when they made her cry.

"We didn't mean to upset her!" Korra's father growled. "How were we supposed to know what you were saying was true!"

"Having two Avatar's is impossible." Senna frowned, sinking back into her chair. "I don't know what we could have done differently with her today."

"You could've trusted her!" Aang was beyond mad at the display Korra's parents were putting on. He couldn't remember another time when he'd ever been this angry. "You know, she told me in the Spirit World that she was afraid to tell you. Now I know why." Aang took a deep breath trying to calm down. "You just took her worst fears about telling you and turned them into a reality. I hope you're happy!" Senna and Tonraq were quiet for a long time before saying anything.

"Find our little girl and bring her back." Tonraq whispered, sinking down beside his wife.

"Please." Senna added quietly. Aang nodded and ran out the door.

"Korra?" He shouted into the yard. How could she have managed to get away from this general area so quickly? "Korra where are you?" Aang searched around the house and the surrounding yards for almost an hour before panic started to set in and he decided to recruit his and Korra's friends to help find the little Avatar girl.

"Aang!" Katara ran up to him, not noticing his counterpart was missing. "How did it go? Did they say Korra could come with us?"

"Not quite." Aang sighed, looking at the younger group.

"Where's Korra?" Mako demanded, crossing his arms. The other three junior Team Avatar members followed Mako's lead, glaring up at Aang.

"Where's our friend?" Asami asked, there was ice in her tone.

"We trusted you to keep her safe! Where is she?" Opal shook her head.

"I knew we shouldn't have left you alone with her!" Bolin yelled, patting Naga. The polarbear-dog whined, looking all around for her best friend. Aang felt incredibly guilty, even his friends held unspoken questions in their eyes.

"Look, Korra's parents didn't take the news very well. They started yelling at me and told me the Avatar wasn't welcome in their home. Korra was already upset and nervous enough but that little comment threw her over the edge. She bended all the elements she could in front of them and told them that if the Avatar wasn't welcome in her parent's home she would have to leave too." Aang looked away, he was really torn up about the whole thing. "She ran away and I can't find her anywhere."

"Nice going Twinkle Toes! You lost the Avatar girl!" Toph shook her head in disbelief. "Only you could do something so stupid!"

"Toph!" Zuko yelled. "You're not exactly helping the situation." The Fire Lord looked up at Aang. "I'll help you find the Avatar."

"Of course you will." Sokka teased, trying to make a joke. Nobody except him and Toph thought it was particularly funny. Zuko glared at them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara smacked her brother and wrapped her arms around Zuko's waist, kissing his cheek. "Ignore him."

"Guys! Stop fighting! We need a plan." Aang sighed. "How are we going to find her?"


	5. The Avatars State

Aang and the others searched all day for Korra with no luck. Korra's friends had led the older benders to all of Korra's old hideouts but she hadn't been in any of them. Aang was getting more and more worried with each passing moment, he couldn't help thinking that this was his fault. After another potential hiding spot turned out to be a bust Aang sank to the ground, holding his head in his hand. He looked at the trees in the surrounding woods, grateful that he was alone for the moment.

"I promised I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you and I failed." Aang whispered to nobody in particular. He'd decided earlier that he didn't want to try going into the Spirit World to see if Korra would be pulled in with him. It was too risky. Aang didn't want anyone to find out Korra was the Avatar before she was trained. Besides, it would be dangerous. What if something happened to her physical body as a result of her being pulled away from it without warning? Aang sighed.

"Hey." Opal walked over to sit under the tree beside Aang. "Are you alright?" She frowned, already knowing the answer. "We're going to find her. Don't worry." Aang looked at the nine year old girl before him, she seemed so sure they would find Korra.

"How? It's going to be dark soon. You guys said this was the last place you could think that she would be." Aang shook his head, but Opal smiled.

"Aang, you said that you and Korra are connected now. Isn't that true?" The small non-bender waited almost impatiently for his answer.

"Yes… What are you trying to get at?"

"Well, I've always been fascinated by airbenders and what they were like. I know you're the only one left… or I guess you'll be one of only two left once Korra learns how to airbend, but that's not the point." Opal smiled, bouncing with excitement at sharing her idea with Aang. "I've been reading some scrolls about advanced airbending and there's this form called Spiritual Projection."

"Spiritual Projection!" Aang's eyes lit up. "I've only ever heard of that. I haven't ever tried it myself."

"Well I think you could use it to find Korra!" Opal jumped up. "My scrolls said that Spiritual Projection uses a more focused sense of spirituality. Who's more spiritual than you? You're an airbender _and_ the Avatar. Spiritual Projection works best if you have a strong connection with the person you're trying to find. You and Korra share the Avatar Spirit, it doesn't really get more connected than that."

"Hmm…" Aang thought about it for a moment. "And you're sure it's different than going into the Spirit World? I don't want Korra to get hurt."

"No, no! It's totally different. Any master level airbender would be able to achieve Spiritual Projection, only the Avatar can get into the Spirit World." Opal smiled, happy to help.

"Okay. I'll try it." Aang sat up getting into a more comfortable position. "Make sure nothing happens to me while I'm gone and explain this to the others if they find us before I'm back."

"Okay." Opal nodded. Aang closed his eyes and meditated until he was no longer in his physical body, but floating around in a weird space between the Physical World and the Spirit World. After getting his bearings he focused on Korra's energy. It wasn't hard to find her this way, actually Aang was almost being pulled to her. Not long after Aang entered this state he found himself in a cave secluded by some rocks at the beach. The cave was very close to the water, it could only be seen during the low tide otherwise it would be completely flooded. Aang walked a little ways into the cave before finding Korra fast asleep on one of the rock ledges against the cave wall. At first he was relieved but the feeling didn't last. When Aang looked back at the mouth of the cave he noticed water starting to rush in.

"Korra!" He reached out to shake her shoulder to wake her, his hand went right through her. Aang realized that he couldn't touch her and started to panic. The cave wouldn't take long to fill. "Korra!" Aang yelled again. "Wake up!" Korra moved, rolling onto her other side. Aang shook his head and looked at the water again before deciding he needed to get back to his physical body so he could come back and help Korra. The older Avatar raced back to his body, jolting back into the physical world as soon as he made contact with it.

"Did you find her? You've been gone for hours." Opal asked passively. Hours? Aang thought he was gone for maybe half an hour at most. Opal looked at Aang waiting for his answer. She was absent mindedly twisting pieces of leaves and vine together while Suki and Sokka watched. Zuko and Mako were trading stories of growing up without parents, while Toph was teaching a blindfolded Bolin some new bending techniques. Katara and Asami where having fun doing each other's hair. Aang jumped up, amazed at the display.

"What is this! Why are you all just hanging around?" Aang shook his head remembering the danger his sister was in. "I found Korra! We need to go help her before it's too late!" Aang took off in the direction of the cave and the others scrambled to chase after him.

"Where is she?" Suki asked, she kept up with Aang easily due to all her training as a Kyoshi Warrior.

"She's in the cave by the beach."

"The cave by the… If we don't get there before the tide she'll drown!" Mako picked up his pace.

"But couldn't she just bend? I mean it _is_ water." Katara pointed out. Aang and the younger kids didn't seem to take comfort in this.

"She's not that strong of a bender yet. She's only twelve and hasn't had much formal training." Asami explained breathily. The beach was in view now, the water level was extremely high. Much higher than it had been when Aang left, supporting Opal's claim that he'd been gone longer than he thought.

"Korra!" Aang yelled, freezing mid step. His eyes began to glow as all four elements flew around him in one massive cloud of bending. The others shielded their eyes from the sand Aang was blowing around.

"What is that?" Bolin shouted. Korra had never gone into the Avatar State before so this was all brand new to her friends. Worried expressions were plastered on all of their faces as elements flew around them.

"This is the Avatar state!" Sokka looked to the young group. The force of Aang's wind pushed him back a step. Suki and Toph both rushed over to the kids, herding them to a safer place. When Sokka looked back at Aang and saw Katara forcing her way closer to him as Zuko looked on helplessly.

"Aang!" Katara called to her best friend. "Aang, please calm down!" Even though Zuko was the man she loved romantically, Katara still loved Aang. The Avatar had a special place in the waterbender's heart and she hated to see him triggered into the Avatar state when he wasn't trying to use it on his own.

"Katara it's too dangerous! Come back!" Zuko called to her through the mess. Katara frowned.

"No!" She shook her head at Zuko, concentrating on Aang once again. Katara grasped Aang's hand, pulling him tight against her chest. "Please calm down. It's okay!" She was worried. All of Aang's friends were. None of them had seen him pulled into the Avatar State against his will since he was twelve years old. It was definitely scary to see this happening again.

"She's not going to back down on this one Zuko. You know that." Sokka led him over to the rest of the group.

"It's not safe!" Zuko frowned looking on as Katara cuddled the distraught Avatar. Sokka shook his head.

"He's her best friend. If anyone can calm him down, it's her." Sokka explained. He was about to go on but Bolin's screams cut him off."

"Where's my brother?" Bolin screamed in a panic after a little time had passed and Aang hadn't calmed down any.

"I thought he was right here." Asami frowned, looking around for the young firebender.

"There!" Opal yelled, squinting as she pointed down the beach. Mako was running as fast as he could towards the now flooded cave. When he got to the water he didn't hesitate to dive in.

"NO!" Bolin was about to run after him but Toph grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down.

"We don't need to add to to the list of casualties!" Her crude remark shocked Bolin to tears.

"His brother isn't going to die!" Opal shook her head and pulled Bolin into a tight hug. Time seemed to stand still for the next few moments. Nobody from either group knew what to do. Nothing changed until all of a sudden Aang collapsed in Katara's arms falling out of the Avatar State.

"Aang!" Katara wasn't surprised, she knew how draining being pulled in the Avatar State was for Aang.

"Katara?" Aang frowned, barely able to open his eyes to look up at her.

"Katara look!" Zuko pointed down the beach to Mako. Mako had Korra cradled in his arms as he carried her back up the beach. The young girl had the same limp look about her that Aang did as Katara held him.

"She did this to him." Katara frowned. "That has to be it… there's no other way to explain Aang slipping away like that."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Toph asked. For once the stubborn earthbender didn't have an answer for every question that came her way.

"We're going to help her." Aang coughed out, struggling to get to his feet to meet Mako as the boy rejoined the group with Korra.

"Aang you need to rest!" Katara warned her friend but Aang wouldn't hear it. Korra wiggled out of Mako's arms and stumbled over to Aang dizzily.

"Korra!" Mako frowned. Korra stood before her brother with a hopeless look on her face, she knew she messed up. Neither of them had enough strength left in them to stand up but that didn't stop the older Avatar from pulling the younger into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry." The Avatars whispered to each other before collapsing into a heap right there on the beach.


	6. The Gaang vs The Krew

"Aang!" Katara yelled, pulling her friend away from Korra. Mako pulled Korra away at same time holding her against his chest as he stared down the older waterbender. Both the Avatars were still passed out from the energy the Avatar State had sapped from them.

"He did this to her!" Mako shouted at Katara when he noticed the way she was looking at Korra. The rest of Korra's friends hurried over to her, huddling around her. They were all looking at Aang's limp form with disapproving eyes.

"_He_ did this to _her_?" Zuko yelled, leading Aang's group over to where Katara held the older Avatar. "If anything this is her fault!" Zuko accused, pointing a finger towards Korra. The younger Team Avatar wouldn't hear it.

"It's not Korra's fault!" Bolin argued. "Aang was supposed to die!"

"If he did Korra would've gotten the help she needed to master the elements and all the Avatar stuff that she was supposed to!" Opal added, placing her hand on Bolin's shoulder.

"Well Aang's not dead!" Zuko exploded. He was feeling incredibly guilty about this because he'd been part of the reason Aang had died in the first place. That made him partly responsible for this whole mess in his own mind.

"Well maybe he should be!" Asami glared at the Fire Lord.

"Maybe she should be!" Zuko countered. Mako frowned, brushing Korra's wet hair away from her face.

"I agree with Zuko. There can only be one Avatar, clearly that's Aang." Sokka took a step forward as he spoke, standing beside the Fire Lord. Aang's friends seemed to agree with his words, the younger kids didn't like the sound of that.

"You aren't killing Korra!" Mako screamed, producing a small flame in his hand. Bolin took an earthbending stance so he was ready in case a fight really broke out. Asami and Opal looked at each other and frowned as Sokka took another step towards Korra.

"Guys!" Suki yelled. She stood in between her boyfriend and the group of younger kids. Bolin raised two rocks in front of him.

"We're going to protect her!" He shouted, taking the tiniest glance back at the girl laying loosely in his brother's arms.

"Calm down!" Toph ordered the younger Team Avatar. She walked over to Sokka and shoved him into the sand daring Suki to reprimand her for it. "We aren't killing a little girl! When Aang wakes up we're going to convince him to take her bending away and that'll be the end of this nonsense."

"That's a better idea." Katara said, looking back down to the young man in her arms. The rest of her friends seemed to like this idea.

"We aren't going to let you do that to her!" Opal answered, crossing her arms. The members of the Gaang and the members of the Krew stared each other down, neither group wanting to admit that their Avatar had been wrong. All at once everyone started screaming at each other about their respective Avatar being right. They didn't even notice the soft moan as Aang started to come around. Aang's eyes were still closed, he didn't have the energy to open them but he could still hear everyone yelling. "We're going to protect her!" he heard the group of children yell. "We're going to convince him to take her bending away!" his friends countered. Aang's head was pounding but he forced himself to open his eyes and sit up.

"What happened?" He coughed as he looked around at all the angry faces. His eyes found Korra still laying in Mako's lap and he pursed his lips. "She triggered the Avatar State..."

"You need to take her bending away." Zuko stated coldly, he never had been one to beat around the bush. Katara looked at Zuko, nodding in agreement before looking back to Aang.

"He's right Aang. Korra pulled you into the Avatar State too."

"First the Spirit World, now the Avatar State! What's next? She's dangerous!" Sokka threw his arms up, fed up with the little girl.

"So you want me to take her bending away?" Aang asked, confused. He didn't understand how his friends could be so cruel. The smaller kids got all defensive again. Mako reignited his palm and held Korra close to his chest, the other three members of Korra's group stood in front of them.

"We aren't going to let you hurt her!" Asami told him. Aang held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm not going to hurt her. I promise you." Aang took a step closer to Korra but was blocked by Bolin.

"Stay away from her!" The young earthbender warned. Aang's friends watched with smug looks on their faces.

"You can't fight the Avatar and win kids! Give up while you still have your pride." Sokka laughed, crossing his arms.

"Don't torment them! Just do what has to be done." Zuko yelled, exasperated. Katara leaned against him, wrapping him up in her arms in an attempt to calm him down. Zuko's mood didn't seem to improve any, but he held her arms there. Aang turned to look at the Fire Lord.

"Okay! Okay! Just calm down! I'm not going to do that with all of you watching." Aang side stepped Bolin and used a blast of air to extinguish Mako's flames as he pulled Korra up into his arms. If he could just get the two of them alone he knew they'd be able to work this out without the loss of Korra's bending.

"Aang?" Katara knew the look he wore only spelt trouble for anyone involved. The older Avatar knew he'd been caught.

"I'm sorry!" Aang yelled looking around at his friends and Korra's in turn. Before Katara had a chance to expose Aang's motives the airbender took off down the beach using his bending to help gain speed. Within two minutes the beach was replaced by the tangled mess of vines and roots from the surrounding woods. Careful not to trip and drop the helpless girl in his arms Aang raced towards Appa, knowing his friends would be running after him. He didn't doubt that Zuko was fast enough to catch him. In fact he could sense the others gaining on him already.

"Aang!" Zuko shouted from several hundred feet back. Aang willed himself to pick up the pace, sighing in relief as his destination came into view. "Appa!" Aang blasted himself up onto the bison's head, still holding Korra close to his chest. "Yip Yip!" He yelled. Appa took off, soaring into the air gracefully.

"Korra!" Mako screamed as he stumbled through the trees into the clearing. Zuko sent a blazing arc towards the bison, but after years of practice the animal masterfully dodged it.

"Aang! Get back here!" The Fire Lord screamed. The others all found their way into the clearing a few minutes later, all of them shouting for Aang to come back or demanding that he release Korra. Quickly, the friends of the two Avatars disappeared as Appa covered more ground. When Aang could no longer see the people standing in the clearing he relaxed a bit and climbed into the saddle so he could set Korra down. She was still sleeping, so Aang took one of his blankets out of his bag, frowning slightly when he realized he still had all of his friends gear. Sighing, the older Avatar covered the younger one and climbed back onto Appa's head. He didn't really know where they were going, but anywhere would be better than back in Republic City where their friends were fighting. Aang flew in silence for a few hours, the sun was just setting when Korra finally started to wake up.

"Korra?" Aang asked, turning around to look inside the saddle. The young girl let herself flop onto her back and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before slowly opening her eyes. When she noticed the clouds in the sky moving quickly she scrambled to sit up.

"Aang!" She squeaked. She didn't know how she'd gotten into this predicament and besides that she'd never flown before. "What's going on!" Korra looked over the side of Appa's saddle, her stomach dropping when she didn't see any land below them.

"Korra, just relax. Everything is going to be alright." Aang tried to reason with her. Korra didn't want any part of it.

"Where are you taking me?" She demanded. "Where are my friends?" Aang sighed. The last time they'd been together hadn't really ended on a high note.

"Korra it's okay. We need to figure out how to control the Avatar State. It's too dangerous for us to be pulling each other in and out of the Spirit World or the Avatar State. We're going to try something together so that way this doesn't keep happening."

"Aang…" Korra frowned, she was scared but didn't want to admit it. "I've never really done anything like this before. My friends are always there for me when I try new Avatar stuff."

"I know, but right now my friends and your friends aren't getting along. If I take you back and we don't have this under control they're not going to let it go. My friends want me to take your bending away." Aang didn't want to scare Korra any more by telling her this, but he wanted to give her a sense of reality. The little Avatar inched as far away from Aang as she could, afraid that he might actually take her bending right then and there. Aang sighed and climbed into the saddle again, placing his hand on her shoulder as he crouched before her. "I'm not going to take your bending away. We're going to figure this out together."


	7. Chakras 101

For the rest of the time they were flying Aang filled Korra in on what was going on between their two friends. The younger Avatar hadn't been especially happy when she learned that she was the cause of the tension. Pulling Aang into the Spirit World was bad enough, now she'd actually pulled him into the Avatar State. Korra didn't want anything she did to hurt Aang and the older Avatar sensed this. Aang turned around on Appa's head so he was facing Korra, who was sitting right behind him.

"Hey." Aang covered her hands with his own trying to comfort her. "We're going to figure this out and everything's going to be okay." Korra sighed, looking up at Aang.

"What if it's not?" She frowned. Her blue eyes held deep feelings of fear and sadness behind them as she looked into Aang's grey ones searching for answers.

"I'm not giving up on you that easily little sister." Aang smiled. "We're almost there now." The young man had thought of something while they'd been flying aimlessly through the sky. When he'd struggled with the Avatar State he'd gone to see Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple, so that was where he was taking the younger Avatar. Even though the guru wouldn't be there Aang still remembered his teachings and knew he'd be able to help Korra unlock her chakras.

"Well I appreciate it Aang. Thanks for not just giving up on me and taking my bending away." Korra sighed, taking her hands out from under his so she could lay back in the saddle. "So where are we going?" She asked as an after thought.

"We're going to the Eastern Air Temple." Aang grinned. Korra propped herself up on her elbows so she could look at Aang again.

"Why are we going there? I thought you were the last airbender." Aang laughed at Korra.

"You're so impatient. You'll see when we get there." He paused for a few moments, turning around to face forward again. "And you're wrong you know. I'm not the last airbender."

"What? I'm pretty sure the world would know if there was more than one airbender!" Korra countered, wracking her brain trying to think of something she'd missed when she wasn't paying attention in school. Aang chuckled again.

"You're the Avatar, Korra. You're an airbender too. The world doesn't know there's more than one airbender left because you've kept it from them for all this time." The words sat heavily on Korra's mind as Aang guided Appa down to the ground. Desperate to change the subject the young Avatar chose to try her luck at asking her earlier question again.

"We're here now. Will you tell me why now?" She asked. Aang landed Appa and jumped down from the bison, stretching after being in the sky for nearly three days. Korra, who didn't have much experience with flying, tried to climb out of the side of the saddle, only to lose her footing. Aang grabbed her before she could fall and placed her gently on the ground.

"We're here so you can learn to master the Avatar State." Aang announced. Korra blinked, confused.

"Aang, no. I'm not using the Avatar State. I don't want to hurt you." She sighed, playing with the bottom of one of her ponytails.

"Korra." Aang placed his hand on her shoulder, kneeling so he was face to face with her. "The Avatar State is a part of who you are. I'm going to help you open your chakras so you can gain control over the power and hopefully stop pulling me into the Avatar State with you. Korra was still skeptical but decided that if there was a chance that this would help her big brother that it was worth a shot.

"Okay. We can try." She nodded as she said it, a determined smile growing on her face.

"Great!" Aang smiled back, taking her hand so he could lead her to the little river Guru Pathik had started his lessons with. Once they got there Aang had Korra sit down. "Watch the water and observe it's flow. I'll be right back." Aang waited for Korra to follow his instructions before running off. Korra sighed and watched the water, noticing all the leaves swirling in it and how it seemed to form separate pools. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through the water, quickly becoming one with her native element. She didn't even notice Aang come back until he held a bowl out in front of her face. Korra tentatively took the bowl, examining the yellowish contents.

"What is it?" She asked, wrinkling her nose up when she caught a whiff.

"Drink up." Aang laughed, not giving her a real answer. Korra glowered at him but did as he asked. She sputtered when the first sip passed her lips.

"Eww, gross! It tastes like banana juice mixed with… onions!" She held the bowl away from her face as she looked at Aang. The older Avatar laughed again, remembering the first time he'd tasted the rancid food.

"It _is_ banana juice mixed with onions." The airbender took a second bowl and downed the liquid, setting an example for Korra. "You want to open your chakras don't you?" Begrudgingly, Korra swallowed her own juice, making a face as she handed Aang the bowl.

"What is a chakra anyway?" Korra asked. Aang smiled.

"I'm glad you asked!" He looked around and picked up a stick. "A chakra is basically a pool of energy swirling around in our body. We have seven…"

"Oookay." Korra frowned slightly confused. Aang had anticipated this.

"You see how the water is flowing through the river?" Aang asked.

"Yeah." Korra nodded. "There are different pools." She pointed out. Aang beamed with excitement.

"Yes! Exactly! Think of those pools as your chakras. Each one of the pools flow into the next, but sometimes the flow of one into another is blocked by leaves or dirt." Aang pointed to one of the blocked pools, freeing up the mouth so the water could flow freely. "Once you unblock the pool, the water flows into the next smoothly."

"So you're saying if we unblock my chakras that my energy will flow more smoothly and that the Avatar State will be easier to use?"

"You learn fast young Avatar." Aang smiled, pleased with the progress they were making already. Korra smiled back, happy that she was actually learning something about being the Avatar with help from someone who knew what they were doing. She was especially happy that she was actually understanding what Aang was trying to teach her.

"Do you really think doing this will stop me from pulling you into the Avatar State, Aang?"

"Only one way to find out!" The airbender answered. "Come on." Aang offered Korra a hand up, she took it with a smile.

"Where to next Sifu Aang?" Korra asked brightly.

"Guru Aang." The older Avatar corrected with a chuckle, remembering how Guru Pathik had joked he might become a guru himself one day. Korra rolled her eyes, she was more than ready to do this. Because she didn't know how hard it was to actually open her chakras she was excited, ready to attack this with everything she had.

"Let's just start!" Korra jumped up and down. Aang put his hands on her shoulders to stop her.

"Settle down. This is serious Avatar business. Once you start the process of unblocking your chakras you can't stop. If you do you won't be able to use the Avatar State at all." Aang measured the look on her face and decided he needed to add a little more weight to his words. "That's a bad thing Korra. The Avatar needs to master the Avatar State. The world will be thrown into an imbalance if you don't take this seriously."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." Korra held her hands up in surrender. "I promise I'll take this seriously. No more jokes." Aang seemed to believe Korra.

"This way." He motioned for her to follow him as he lead her across the temple into a dark cave filled with mist. Korra stood at the mouth of the cave remember how she'd almost drowned the last time she was in one.

"You want me to go in there?" She asked sheepishly. Aang looked back at her from the few feet he'd already walked inside the cave. He realized her apprehension at entering the cave but knew it was imperative for her to unlock her first chakra in here as he had with Guru Puthik.

"It's going to be okay Korra." Aang walked back out to her. "I'm going to be with you the entire time. You don't have to be scared."

"But…" Korra chewed on her bottom lip. "Are you sure this is the only way to open my chakras?" She asked. Aang pursed his lips, nodding.

"I'm sure." He noticed when Korra frowned. "Hey, it's going to be alright." Aang squeezed Korra's shoulder for support. "I promise you I won't let anything hurt you." The older Avatar held his hand out for Korra. "Come on. You can trust me." He smiled, holding his hand out for her to take. Hesitantly, she took it.

"I trust you big brother." She held onto his hand tightly and together they made their way into the cave.

"So the first chakra is called the Earth chakra…"


	8. The Earth Chakra

"The Earth chakra is located at the base of the spine." Aang explained, as he sat in the lotus position across from Korra in the old cave. The young Avatar didn't want to spend any more time in the cave than she had to, but realized it wasn't as bad as she'd thought.

"Okay, so what does that mean?" She sighed, wanting Aang to give her the quick version of this lesson. Aang wouldn't have it.

"The Earth chakra deals with survival and is ruled by fear." He went on to explain. "I want you to close your eyes and try to relax." He waited until Korra did this. "Good. Now what are your biggest fears? I want you to picture them playing out in your mind... " Aang trailed off when he noticed Korra's face scrunch up, he knew she was on the right track. Korra whimpered at the scene playing out in her mind.

...

"Your daughter is the Avatar! She will have to come live with us and learn the elements away from home." A fictional member of the White Lotus told Korra's parents before turning to look at Korra. "Your whole world is about to change now! It's up to you to maintain balance and peace in the world." The man grabbed her hand, pulling her out the door to her house despite her struggling against him.

"No! Mommy Daddy! Don't let them take me!" Little Korra screeched as the man in her worst nightmare dragged her into a satomobile. Her parents stood at the front door Senna was pressed into Tonraq's side crying, as he stood there beaming with pride.

"Go save the world!" Her dad told her. He and her mother didn't want to let Korra go, but of course it was their duty to the world to let the Avatar receive her training.

"We love you Korra!" Her mother called as the man from the White Lotus closed the door and started up the car, speeding off as Korra looked at her entire world disappearing out the back window.

"Now that you're the Avatar everything's going to be different." The man told Korra. Suddenly the two of them were transported into the middle of a crowded festival. People surrounded Korra, yelling at her and scrutinizing how she could be the Avatar when she was such a pathetic young girl. The people looked at her angrily, swarming around her waiting for her to fix their messes. When Korra couldn't help them with their problems elements started flying towards her. Members from anti-Avatar groups leading chants that suggested killing her. Korra found herself frozen in place as the angry people closed in on her. The young girl squeezed her eyes shut, willing them to let her be.

"Leave me alone! Please! Don't hurt me!" Korra begged.

"Avatar Korra! Avatar Korra! Avatar Korra!" Each time her name was echoed she felt more and more tense. Korra's eyes shot open, and she found herself back in the cave. She flinched when she saw Aang sitting limply across from her with glowing eyes. He appeared to be meditating but she didn't understand how he could be in the Avatar State without her. Had she trapped him there? Did that mean she couldn't use the power herself if she needed to?

"Oh no!" Korra shouted. She went over to him shaking his shoulders. "Aang come back! Aang I need you!" Aang slumped over, frozen in a catatonic sleep. Korra panicked, running from the cave. "Help! Someone please help!" She shrieked, tears streaming down her face. Korra was almost positive that she'd caused this to happen to Aang by opening her eyes before clearing her chakra. "Anyone!" Her voice echoed all around the air temple.

"Woof!" Korra heard Naga's familiar bark coming out of the trees. She ran to the polarbear-dog, climbing up onto her back. She didn't even think to stop and ask herself how Naga would have even gotten there. She just knew that she needed to find help for Aang.

"Naga we need to go find help!" She shouted, still in a fear filled adrenaline rush. "Aang's in trouble! I did something wrong and now he's stuck in the Avatar State! If we don't get him out it's not going to be good for me or for him!" She told her pet in an almost unintelligible gush. "Let's go find help!" Naga started running off towards the center of the temple, expertly weaving through the ruins as she did. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until Korra was suddenly thrown off Naga's back "AHH!" Korra screamed in free fall, she grabbed a vine that had appeared out of nowhere and looked below her. "NAGA!" She shrieked, peering at the endless sky below her. The two of them had fallen through a hole in the floor of the dilapidated old structure. Her whole body began to shake as she realized there was no way her animal could ever survive that fall.

"Korra?" Mako held out a hand for Korra to grab and hauled her back up onto solid ground. He pulled her backwards a little ways away from the hole. Mako looked at her with worried eyes. "We were all so worried about you!"

"We?" Korra looked around, spotting her friends in the treeline. This was so strange. How had they even found her here? And even so, how had they gotten here?

"Shh… Aang's friends told the White Lotus that you're the Avatar. Bolin, Opal, Asami, and I are in huge trouble for not turning you over to them when you told us your secret." Korra's other three friends made their way out of the treeline to hug Korra.

"It's all going to be okay." Bolin told her. "We're together again. There's no stopping The Krew!"

"We can get through this together." Asami smiled. "I don't regret keeping your secret."

"I'm so glad you're okay." Opal squeezed Korra tight. "We're going to help you get out of this mess."

"How did you guys even get here?" Korra wondered out loud. Not even seconds had passed after she spoke when she was distracted by the sound of a large airship coming up overhead. The members of the Gaang were staring at her out the window with wicked grins on their faces. Members of the White Lotus slid down on ropes when they got close enough. When they were far enough down their ropes they started dropping to the ground to wrangle up Korra's friends. Korra screamed and tried to save her friends but found herself completely frozen where she stood, just as she had been when the mob had attacked her earlier.

"There can only be one Avatar!" Aang's friends kept chanting over and over again as things got harder and harder for the kids.

"Korra! Help us!" Her friends screamed as the strange men outsmarted them. They were chi blocked and tied up within seconds. Before long the men started loading them onto the airship. Korra watched helplessly as the strange people surrounded her.

...

"Korra!" Her friends cries were desperate, but there was nothing she could do to help them, she had to protect herself too.

"I'm so sorry!" Korra cried trying to get her body to move to protect herself as the men came closer. Her tears blinded her, until she could no longer see the hideous scene playing out before her.

"We've got the kids, leave her here to suffer alone!" One of the men called. All the others turned abruptly and hurried onto the airship. The rig disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

"Korra! Korra!" Instead of her friends calls for help growing quieter as the airship sped off they only got louder and louder.

...

"Korra!" Her friends cries for help turned into Aang's worried attempts to bring Korra back. Aang shook Korra's shoulders, trying to pull her out of her reverie. Finally, the young Avatar shook her head and her eyes fluttered open.

"Aang!" She shrieked, throwing her arms around his neck when she realized he wasn't stuck in the Avatar State anymore. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she started to understand that none of what had just happened was real, it was all part of opening her chakra.

"Shh…" Aang wrapped his arms around the young girl trying to comfort her, she squeezed him tighter with no intentions of letting go. "It's alright Korra. Nothing you saw was real. It wasn't real." He kept repeating the words over and over to her, rubbing her back as he rocked her gently. Korra's tears didn't stop. The awful visions that had played out before her exposed her greatest fears and made her feel as if she were living them out in real life.

"That was the scariest thing I have ever had to go through!" She shoved him away from her. Korra's fear was quickly turning into anger and Aang was the only one there was for her to direct it towards.

"I know. I've been where you are now. I promise you it's all going to be worth it in the end." Aang offered, trying to put a positive spin on this grueling process. Korra didn't want any part of it.

"You can't just expect me to breathe and magically all the scary things go away Aang!" Korra stood up, stomping her foot. Aang sighed, trying to be patient with her.

"You need to let your fears go in order to unblock your Earth chakra. Realize that whatever you saw doesn't control your survival. Only you have the power to give in and let your fears win."

"Leave me alone!" Korra growled, storming past him.

"Korra…" Aang tried, but Korra was already halfway back to the temple. She wasn't ready to let her fears go just yet. The young Avatar found herself back at the river where Aang had shown her that the pools were like her chakras. Sighing, Korra kicked her shoes off and walked into the water, focusing her energy on the water rushing around her.

"I can't just let go of thinking something bad is going to happen to my parents, you, Naga, or my friends." Korra told Aang, though he was nowhere to be seen. "Fears don't work like that. If they did they wouldn't be fears." Korra reasoned as she levitated a stream of water. For what seemed like a long time she manipulated the water into shapes. Korra frowned when she unconsciously started spinning three spheres of water in her palms similar to how she'd seen Aang airbend the marbles he gave her. Korra dropped her water and fished around in her pocket, producing the little pieces of glass. "Oh Aang." She sighed. "I'm sorry." Korra frowned, knowing what she had to do to make this up to him. Clutching the marble tight in her fist she made her way back to shore and picked up her shoes, not bothering to put them on as she made her way back to the cave.

"I knew you'd come back." Aang grinned when he saw her approaching. Korra chewed on her lip.

"I'm sorry Aang." She blinked away tears, refusing to cry again.

"It's alright Korra. I was never mad." He smiled, waiting for her to go on.

"I was just scared and I wasn't ready to let go of that." She paused for a second, almost as if making sure her next statement was really true. "I am ready now though."

"What changed your mind?" Aang asked, leading Korra back into the cave. She plopped back into her spot and showed him the marbles in her hand.

"You." She confessed. "I thought about what you said and I realized I have to finish what I started. I mean, I obviously can't leave my chakras the way they are." Korra smiled and Aang mirrored the expression.

"Well let's do this then." Aang positioned himself in the lotus position and took a breath, prompting Korra to prepare herself for what was about to happen.

"Let's do it." The waterbender closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her mind wander back to her biggest fears. Images of angry people and bad things happening to the people she loved danced around in her mind's eye. Korra flinched a tiny bit as the man from the White Lotus dragged her away from her home and threw her into the crowd of angry people.

"Korra, it's okay." Aang spoke calmly. "People are going to find out you're the Avatar and you're not going to make everyone happy. Let that energy go. Accept it."

"Accept the changes." Korra breathed. She thought about how things had changed already when she met Aang. She'd gone through a lot already, but she wasn't alone. Aang was there to help her through this, Korra reminded herself. One by one the angry people attacking her disappeared. She was afraid of people finding out who she was, but they already had and she was still okay.

"Did you let it go?" Aang asked when he saw Korra's face relax the slightest bit. Korra nodded, but her serene expression didn't last long. The angry benders had gone away but they had been replaced with the image of Aang stuck in the Avatar State.

"Aang…" Korra whimpered. She was so tempted to run away as she had the last time she was faced with this fear.

"Korra, I'm here." Aang's voice grounded the little Avatar. His voice reminded her of why she was doing this. She was doing this not only for herself, but so that the vision of Aang weakened and hurt, trapped in the Avatar State, didn't became a reality. She needed to let her fear of hurting him go because that was the only way to ensure that he wouldn't end up hurting in the end.

"It's okay…" Korra took a deep breath, letting the image of Aang stuck in the Avatar state go.

"You're doing great." Aang encouraged her. "Feel your energy starting to flow more freely with each fear you acknowledge and come to terms with." Korra nodded and watched as she and Naga fell through the hole in the air temple floor again.

"Naga." Korra squeezed her eyes tighter and focused on what she knew was real. Naga would never end up in a situation like that. The polar-bear dog was a fighter, she'd proven that time and time again when Korra play fought with her. Instead of letting this fear rule her, Korra willed herself to leave it behind. She would always be there to help Naga when she needed it, so worrying about her was silly. Korra smiled triumphantly as Mako helped pull her up again, but she knew that this fear would be the hardest to give up. Korra's friends had stood by her during every single hard time in her life, through all the secrets, lies, and bad times. How could she just let them go. In her mind, her friends screamed, begging for help.

"Let it go Korra. Let go of the fear." Aang coached, sensing that she was having a tough time with this one.

"I can't." Korra frowned, trying to reach out to grab Mako's outstretched hand.

"You can." Aang promised. "You can do this. I believe in you." Aang told the little girl before him, silently hoping that Korra would do this. He didn't want her to have to keep reliving this.

"I can do it." Korra repeated, wiping a few tears off her cheek. She had to keep reminding herself that her friends were all great fighters regardless of whether they could bend or not. The four people who meant the most in the world to her were begging for her help and there wasn't a thing she could do but watch the scene unfold. "I'm sorry." Korra whispered to them. "I have to let you go so I can protect you later." Suddenly the scene before her turned dark and she opened her eyes feeling a hundred times lighter.

"You did it Korra." Aang said, beaming with pride. "You opened your Earth Chakra."

"One down, six to go." Korra joked dryly. "I hope the next ones are easier than this one is."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this one was so strange... and long. I didn't really know what to do with it so I'd appreciate comments in the reviews so I have an idea of what you'd like to see in the coming chapters.**


	9. Free Falling Fun

"So what chakra are we going to work on today?" Korra asked Aang the next morning as she swallowed more of the disgusting onion and banana juice her brother insisted she drank.

"We might work on one later but right now lets just have some fun." Aang made a face as he finished up his juice and hopped up from his spot leaning against Appa's side. He started folding the blankets he and Korra had used to sleep last night. Korra sighed impatiently.

"But I want to unlock my chakras now." She whined. Aang put the blankets back in Appa's saddle and looked to his little sister.

"You worked on your Earth chakra for almost eight hours yesterday. I saw how upset it made you, I'm not in any rush to do that again. It's time for a break." Aang smiled, climbing up onto Appa's head. "Climb on!"

"Where are we going now?" Korra asked, pulling herself into Appa's saddle with a little bit of effort. She plopped down, trying to get comfortable for what she thought would be a long ride.

"You'll see!" Aang laughed, grabbing hold of Appa's reigns. "Appa, Yip Yip!"

"Can't you just tell me?" Korra asked as the bison soared high above the clouds, she didn't like this pattern of never knowing where she was going with him. Aang chuckled to himself, thinking about how he and Korra were so much alike, but total opposites at the same time. After a few minutes passed the older Avatar made his way into the saddle, picking his glider up without opening it.

"You definitely don't get your patience from the Air Nomads." He teased. "But don't worry, we're here now." Aang spread his arms open, enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing past him. Korra gave him a funny look as she took in their surroundings.

"Aang… we're in the sky…" She raised an eyebrow, thinking Aang had thoroughly lost it. "That funky juice must've gone to your head." Aang decided to have fun with this for a little bit.

"Are we?" He asked, ignoring the comment about the juice. Without warning, he stepped up onto the side of Appa's saddle with his staff still neatly tucked away as he balanced. Korra looked horrified.

"Aang! Don't do that! You're going to fall!" She tugged on the ponytails she wore in the front of her hair nervously as she watched the airbender. "Please get down! Please, Aang!"

"I'll be fine!" Aang laughed. "Watch this!" He jumped on the side of the saddle, switching back and forth between facing Korra and having his back to her a few times. "See? Everything's under control, little sister!" Aang called over his shoulder, grinning deviously before jumping to face her again.

"AANG!" Korra screeched, when she watched Aang lose his footing. Instantly she lurched forward in the saddle to grab at him, she only caught air. Korra felt her heart drop as she watched Aang fall beneath the clouds, her eyes stinging with fearful tears. Beneath the clouds, Aang, who had misstepped on purpose, closed his eyes. He was basking in the weightless feeling he got as tumbled through the exhilarating free fall, chuckling to himself as he thought of how Korra would react when she found out this was all a trick. Aang let himself fall for a few more glorious moments before he opened his glider, shooting back up towards Appa and his sister. Aang didn't slow down as he rocketed towards them, instead he reached an arm down, grabbing Korra's around the waist as he soared by them.

"Miss me?" Aang chuckled. The tiny Avatar let out an ear piercing shriek as she realized she was soaring through the sky high above the clouds. She was absolutely terrified of falling.

"Aang!" She cried, digging her fingernails into his skin. At the moment, Korra was more interested in clinging to Aang's arm than figuring out what had just happened.

"Korra, relax!" Aang laughed, carefully maneuvering the tiny girl so she was on his back. "Remember your Earth chakra… let go of your fears."

"But…" Korra couldn't find the words to describe the feelings running through her. Aang smiled, staring straight ahead.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, waiting patiently for her answer.

"What?" She sputtered, straining to hear him against the wind. Korra wrapped her arms tighter around her brother's waist.

"Do you trust me?" Aang asked again. Korra didn't even think about it before answering once she heard the question.

"I trust you."

"Then hold on tight!" Aang instructed, sending them into a nosedive towards the ground. Korra screamed and pressed her face into Aang's back. Aang let them swoop low enough that they could have reached out and the treetops if they'd wanted too. Aang pulled them back up to the clouds, gliding parallel to the tops of the clouds. "Korra look!" Aang requested excitedly. Hesitantly the little girl peeked up to see what Aang was trying to show her.

"Whoa…" Korra was amazed. The two of them were literally floating on air above the puffy white clouds in the clear blue sky. Aang reached out, letting his hand sweep through the clouds as they rode along. Korra watched him for a little bit before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, silently she told herself her fear was only holding her back. When she opened her eyes again, Korra reached her tiny hand out and let it it dip through the clouds beside Aang's.

"There you go!" Aang beamed, he knew that if Korra gave it a chance she would love this. Korra laughed nervously, still not totally comfortable.

"It's not so bad." She admitted, clinging to Aang again when he spun them out of the clouds.

"I know! It's so much fun!" Aang told her. He did loops and tight spirals, let them fall and glide, then picked up an amount of speed only the Avatar would ever be able to achieve as he rocketed them back up towards the bison that had been flying above them. Korra's screams of terror slowly turned into joyful laughter throughout the ordeal. When they finally landed back in Appa's saddle and Aang helped Korra down off his back, the little Avatar turned on Aang.

"Why did you do that!?" Korra yelled, hitting Aang a few times. Now that there was something solid beneath her feet the little Avatar wanted an explanation as to why Aang had tricked her. Aang laughed at Korra's pathetic little slaps and caught her arms, pulling her into a hug.

"You had fun didn't you?" He answered her question with a question, making her think.

"Well… yeah. I had a lot of fun, but I thought you got hurt." Korra frowned, pulling away so she could look up at Aang. Aang was a little surprised by the statement.

"Korra… I'm an Air Nomad." He reminded her with an airy laugh. Korra thought about that for a second before starting to laugh at herself.

"You're right. How could I have forgotten that tiny detail?" Korra shook her head, slightly embarrassed. Aang rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it." He smiled. "If you tried anything like that I'm sure I wouldn't be worried about what your original element was."

"I guess you're right." Korra sighed, she stayed quiet for a moment before looking up at Aang with pleading eyes. "Can we go again?"

"Hop on!" Aang crouched down so Korra could climb onto his back. "Follow me, Appa!" Aang ordered his bison as he lept into the air and opened his glider. Aang smiled when he heard his little sister's joyful laughter in his ear. He wove his way around the clouds with her, twirling with the air currents, and looping through the sky.

"This is amazing!" Korra giggled, holding one of her hands out so she could touch the clouds again. This gave Aang an idea, and he quickly rocketed them down to the ground so Appa could land, and then launched himself and Korra right back up to the clouds.

"Korra, let me see your water pouch for a second." Aang asked, holding his hand out for it. Korra quickly unclipped it from her pants and handed it to Aang.

"What do you need it for?" She wondered. Aang answered her question by bending the water out of the cloud and into her pouch. Korra squealed in delight when Aang gave her back the pouch.

"Cloud water!" Aang told her. "The water is a tiny bit lighter to bend. It's fun to play with."

"Thank you, Aang!" Korra hugged him tight. "You're the best brother ever!" Her comment melted Aang's heart. He loved his little sister so much, he was glad he could make her happy with something as simple as water from a cloud, but he had one more thing he wanted to do for her.

"Your welcome." Aang smiled. After a few more tricks he effortlessly cut through the air like a falling leaf as he brought them to a gentle stop on the ground. Quickly, he twirled his glider shut and grabbed Korra's hand. "I have one more surprise for you!" He gushed as he ran, with Korra following close behind, through the temple grounds into the ancient building.

"What are doing?" Korra laughed when Aang found the room he was looking for. The airbender smiled and opened his arms, gesturing for Korra to look around.

"What do you see?" He asked, barely able to contain his excitement. Korra looked around the dusty old room, wondering what exactly she was supposed to be seeing.

"Umm… sticks?" Korra asked, unsure. Aang held up his staff showing her that it was identical to the 'sticks' she was looking at. Korra lit up, bouncing up and down. "No way! Really!?"

"Pick any staff you want. If I'm going to teach you airbending you're going to need one." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Aang was attacked into a huge hug.

"Aang! This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me!" Korra was genuinely thrilled that Aang was willing to give her one of the relics of his people, she knew this had to mean a lot to him.

"I think there are some really pretty blue ones over here." Aang grinned, leading Korra to the corner of the room. He twirled a few staffs open for her. "Well, what do you think? See one you like?" He asked. Korra nodded.

"I like this one." She smiled, pointing to a glider that was the same shade of blue as her shirt. Aang looked at the staff, checking to make sure it was sturdy, when he was satisfied, he twirled it closed and handed it to her.

"You take care of this staff." He warned as Korra took it, admiring it's beauty.

"I promise I will, Aang." Korra vowed, really understanding the responsibility this gift brought. Aang smiled, putting his arm around Korra. He was glad that he'd accomplished his task of giving her a fun day after the horrible one she'd had yesterday. There was no way he could put her through that much stress everyday until she unlocked all seven chakras, she was just a little girl after all.

"Come on Korra, let's go have a little fun before it gets dark. We can practice some waterbending with your new water from the cloud."


	10. The Water Chakra

"Korra… it's time to wake up." Aang whispered, shaking Korra's shoulder gently. The little waterbender was sleeping against Appa's side, cuddling her new staff.

"Shh!" She groaned, rolling over so her face was pressed against Appa's fur. Aang shook his head, as an airbender he'd never really been one to sleep in.

"Come on. Don't you want to unlock your second chakra?" When Korra didn't answer him, Aang took a deep breath summoning the air around him, he let it out in one big gust, blowing Korra's blankets off.

"Aang!" Korra whined. "I'm tired!" Aang chuckled under his breath, slightly amused with himself.

"Don't make me waterbend you." He warned, knowing he wouldn't actually do it. Korra, taking the threat seriously, sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Aang offered her some of banana and onion flavored liquid they'd been drinking for the past few days.

"What are you so awake for?" Korra grumbled, grabbing the bowl out of Aang's hand.

"I've been up for hours." Aang shrugged, starting to clean up their little camp as he had yesterday. "I like to wake up early to meditate."

"Early? Aang, the morning is evil!" Korra crossed her arms and leaned against Appa again. She was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.

"You know, I've heard Avatar Kyoshi wasn't a morning person either." Aang chuckled, plopping down beside Korra. "Maybe this will get you motivated… We're going to open your Water chakra today." Korra perked up a bit when she heard that she'd be dealing with her native element.

"Water! Really?" Korra jumped up, pulling at her brother's hand. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" She shouted, still trying to get the older Avatar to move.

"Gee, I dunno Korra. I kinda want to go back to sleep for a little while." Aang fought to keep a straight face, but eventually his smile broke through and he started laughing.

"Aang!" Korra playfully punched at his shoulder until he got up. "Where are we going?" She asked as Aang walked right past her, she scurried after him, excited to unlock her next chakra. "And don't say 'you'll see'!"

"You'll find out when we get there." Aang chuckled, knowing Korra wouldn't like that response either. Korra rolled her eyes.

"You're soooo annoying sometimes! I just want to know where we're going… I like knowing stuff! Stuff is cool!"

"We're going to go meditate near a waterfall. You'll like it." Aang smiled when Korra twirled around all excited.

"This is going to be awesome!" She gushed, any fears opening the Earth chakra brought up about this process were long forgotten due to the great time she'd had with Aang yesterday. Korra thought she knew what to expect and was ready to tackle this chakra. As soon as she and Aang arrived at the waterfall, Korra plopped down into lotus position and waited for Aang to begin the lesson.

"The Water chakra is the second chakra. It deals with pleasure and is ruled by guilt." Aang told Korra, taking on the persona of a guru once again. "You need to lay all your guilt out before you and realize what you blame yourself for."

"And then let it go?" The little Avatar asked, her joyful tone deflated a bit when Aang nodded, Korra felt guilty about a lot of things.

"You need to accept that the moments happened, but forgive yourself so you do not become weighed down and heavy." Aang explained. Korra pursed her lips and looked at the waterfall, studying the gallons of water that were being dumped over the mountainside to a giant body of water below. The young Avatar became one with the water, as she closed her eyes she pictured her guilt as the water, she needed to let it drop from her chakra the same way the water was falling over the side of the mountain.

…

"_Thanks again for not telling my parents about this Mako." _Korra saw a memory from when she'd first started training with her friends playing out in her mind.

"_Your secret is safe with me Korra." Mako grinned. "Besides, helping you learn to bend is fun!" He laughed a little. Korra was about to say something to him just as Senna poked her head out the back door. _

"_There you are Korra! I've been looking for you all afternoon." Senna said as she stepped out onto the back porch, drying her hands on a dishrag. When she noticed the little firebender standing beside her daughter, she smiled. "Hi Mako."_

"_Hi, Korra's mom." The firebender raised his hand in a tiny wave as he addressed the woman. Korra rolled her eyes, she'd told him a million times that he didn't need to do that._

"_What have you two been up too all day?" Senna asked innocently enough. _Korra cringed at the younger version of herself as she watched the first of many lies to her parents slip past her lips.

"_Mako was just telling me about some new trick Bolin taught Pabu last night. Right Mako?"_ As if it wasn't bad enough that she'd lied to her parents herself, she was even more guilty that she'd made Mako a liar too… she'd done the same to all her friends.

"_Oh… umm, yeah!" Mako stammered, not well acquainted with lying to Korra's mother._

"_Okay." Senna chalked it up to kids just being kids. "Not too much longer, it's almost time for dinner Korra." Senna seemed to be satisfied when Korra nodded, agreeing not to be late to supper, and walked back into the house. _

...

"Why didn't I just tell Mom and Dad? Why did I drag Mako and the rest of my friends into this mess?" Korra whispered under her breath as the memory started to replay itself. Korra took a deep breath, reminding herself to breath.

"Let go of your guilt, Korra." Aang coached. Korra squeezed her eyes tighter, nodding at Aang's words. _'Mom and Dad know now. I can explain everything when I get home. I can even apologize to my friends for making them lie. I know they'll forgive me.'_ Korra kept thinking that same thought over and over again until eventually the loop her bad memory was running on stopped. A sense of relief washed over Korra, but it was short lived as another memory started up in her head. This one was much more recent.

…

_"Korra, what are you doing out here all alone?" Mako had walked out to the cliff to talk to her, the others were waiting about a hundred feet back, staying a safe distance from the ledge they weren't even supposed to be playing near._

_"I'm not alone." Korra gestured to Naga, scratching her puppy behind the ears. Mako frowned._

_"You know that's not what I'm talking about. You've been acting strange ever since the other day when you were trying to meditate. Did something happen?" Korra tensed at the accusation. So the awkward avoidance hadn't gone unnoticed by her little group afterall. She sighed._

_"Umm…" The mini-Avatar frowned, looking at each of her friends concerned faces, the guilt was eating her alive. "No... What would make you say that?" Korra pressed into Naga's side as her friends walked over to her, tired of waiting._

_"Korra what's going on with you?" Bolin asked, looking over to his brother and two friends for support._

_"Was it Avatar stuff?" Opal pressed. Asami added another little dig right after her._

_"You know you can tell us Korra. There aren't any secrets between members of The Krew." Asami crossed her arms. "There are no secrets right Korra?"_

_"I… I don't want to talk about it!" Korra hopped onto Naga's back. "Go Naga!" She yelled, staying low so they would get away from there faster. Her friends watched her go wearing a collective look of confusion._

…

All her friends had been trying to do was help her and she'd repaid them by running away. She hadn't even had the decency to tell them that there was another Avatar coming to see her. Korra sighed, feeling a few tears slip down her cheeks.

"Korra?" Aang placed his hand on her knee, trying to give her support. The airbender didn't know what Korra was seeing in her head right now, but he sensed that her mood seemed to be deflating more than with the first guilt she'd let go. "You need to forgive yourself in order to move on." He prompted gently.

"I know!" She snapped, trying to gather all her concentration. Korra willed herself to think back to that day. What had happened after she'd run off? The mini-Avatar sighed, remembering that her friends had found them and she'd still given them a hard time about things. She also remembered that when she'd stepped out to meet Aang, they'd stepped out too. The Krew had her back through the whole thing. _'They forgave me.' _Korra told herself. _'I need to forgive myself too.'_ The little waterbender took a deep breath and thought of the water rushing down the side of the mountain, she let the bad memory go with it.

…

Once again another guilt clouded Korra's mind, only this time she saw only black and the voices she heard sounded muffled. Her voices of her friends mixed with those of Aang's friends. They were fighting over her and Aang. Korra's friends shouted that Aang was to blame for the events that had taken place at the beach, and Aang's friends countered that it was Korra's fault entirely. Korra sighed, straining to find anything solid to grab hold of, she'd been out of it for the entire fight and was recalling the entire thing from her subconscious and from the little bits and pieces Aang had told her.

"How was any of this our fault?" Korra thought out loud.

"If you fail to see how you play into a situation, how can you be at fault?" Aang asked, trying to guide the little girl to her own conclusion of letting the matter go.

"I'm not…" Korra frowned, the voices of the Krew and the Gaang were still buzzing around in her head. "I'm not!" Korra repeated, a little more firmly this time. She was no more in control of having half the Avatar Spirit in her than Aang was, they were equals in this. The problem was not because she'd done something wrong, it was that her friends and Aang's needed someone to blame. Korra laughed a little, shaking her head as she made sense of what had happened and came to terms with it. The white noise that came from an argument she'd never even heard happening slowly slipped away and Korra sighed, opening her eyes.

"You did it." Aang smiled. Korra nodded, accepting that she'd opened her Water chakra.

"This one was easier than the last. Most of my guilt all stems from the fact that I lied about who I am for so long." Korra explained, standing up so she could stretch a little bit. "I'm not going to do that anymore." She decided.

"You can't deny who you are. That's what this whole process is about." Aang told her, happy that she was starting to understand that on her own. "Once you accept that, unlocking the next five chakras will go more smoothly. It's not going to be easy, but you're going to get through this."

"Hey, I'm already doing better. I didn't run off crying this time." Korra joked.

"It still took you the better part of the day though." Aang laughed, gesturing up to the sky that was now starting to turn pink with the setting sun. Korra sighed, disheartened.

"I just want this to be over." She sighed, starting the long trek back down the mountain to where Appa was waiting for them to return.

* * *

**AN: Sooo, these chakra chapters are pretty hard to navigate, I'm not going to lie. I appreciate any reviews you might leave for me on what you'd like to see pertaining to the next chakras.**


	11. The Fire Chakra

The next morning, Korra was the first one up. The mini-Avatar hurried around their camp, folding her blanket away neatly, and feeding Appa before she woke Aang up. The older Avatar was surprised to see Korra up so early, acting pleasantly on top of it.

"Here's your breakfast, big brother!" Korra held out a bowl of juice for him. "I thought you liked to meditate in the morning." She laughed, watching as Aang rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The airbender wondered what the little waterbender was up too.

"What are you doing up so early?" He yawned, taking the bowl from her to hold in his lap.

"I want you to help me open my third chakra today." Korra saw that Aang was about to interrupt, so she held a finger up. "I miss Naga, and my friends. You have to be missing your friends too, right?" The young Avatar sighed. "I'm sure my parents are going to be furious when we get back. I mean we've already been gone for almost a week and I haven't even opened half my chakras." Aang sighed, realizing that Korra was right about this to a point.

"Korra, I know this isn't the most thrilling thing in the world, but you need to do it right. I don't want you to break." He sipped on his breakfast, watching Korra throw her hands up in frustration.

"Aang, I'm not going to break! I can do this!" Korra crossed her arms. "I can do this." She repeated. Aang thought about this for a moment before finishing off his juice and tossing his blanket into Appa's saddle.

"Well, I guess if I could do this at twelve years old, you can too." Aang sighed, starting to lead Korra to where they were going. "We're headed to the mountain peak… just incase you were wondering." Aang smiled down at Korra, she had just been about to ask where he was taking her.

"See? Wasn't that so much easier than having me ask a million times?" Korra teased. Aang shook his head with a smile, leading them up to the peaks. The hike there took the Avatars a considerable amount of time, it was just before noon when they finally reached their final destination for the day.

"So, the Fire chakra…" Aang announced, settling down into the lotus position, he was looking rather tired today. Korra giggled not really paying attention to her brother, she was thinking about how she might like this chakra because it was the element her best friend controlled.

"What do I have to do?" Korra asked, bouncing in her spot on the ground. Aang sighed, thinking about how he liked it better when he was the one waking his sister up, not the other way around.

"The Fire chakra is located in the stomach." Aang began, watching as Korra brought her hand up to touch her belly.

"I think my Fire chakra…" Aang cut her off with a sly smile.

"... wants something other than onion and banana juice to eat?" Aang laughed, Korra joined in with her own little giggles.

"How did you know I was going to say that?" She laughed. Aang shook his head, still grinning.

"I made that joke twelve years ago." He mused. "I guess you take after me just a tiny bit." Korra laughed again, showing him with her fingers just how little she thought it was.

"Maybe a teeny, tiny bit." She giggled. "So what about the Fire chakra?" She asked, wanting to get down to business.

"Right! The Fire chakra deals with willpower and is ruled by shame." Guru Aang lectured. "You need to ask yourself what your most ashamed of. What are your biggest disappointments?" Aang watched as Korra closed her eyes, ready to lay her shame out so she could clear her chakra.

…

Once Korra was deep within her thoughts, a million different instances of times she associated with shame and disappointment flashed in front of her. Many of the things she saw had been resolved in other chakras, but overlapped into this one. She'd done something so incredibly bad, by not telling anyone she was the Avatar that it touched all the areas of her life in one way or another. The biggest source of shame for Korra brought her back to the disaster that had caused them to leave last week. The tiny Avatar was once again being carried up the beach in Mako's strong arms.

_"Aang!" Katara had yelled, knowing her friend was in trouble. _

_"Katara?" Aang frowned, barely able to open his eyes to look up at her. _

_"Katara look!" Zuko pointed down the beach to the younger firebender who had Korra cradled in his arms as he carried her back up the beach. Korra remembered being too weak to even walk on her own. If Mako hadn't dove in and swam into the cave to get her, Korra would've died and she knew it. Mako saved her life._

_"She did this to him." Katara frowned. "That has to be it… there's no other way to explain Aang slipping away like that."_

_"So what are we going to do about it?" Toph asked. For once the stubborn earthbender didn't have an answer for every question that came her way._

_"We're going to help her." Aang coughed out, struggling to get to his feet to meet Mako as the boy rejoined the group with Korra._

_"Aang you need to rest!" Katara warned her friend but Aang wouldn't hear it. Korra wiggled out of Mako's arms and stumbled over to Aang dizzily. She needed to make sure her brother was alright. When she saw him looking just as drained as she was, Korra knew she had done this to him._

_"Korra!" Mako frowned. Korra stood before her brother with a hopeless look on her face, she knew she messed up. Neither of them had enough strength left in them to stand up but that didn't _

_stop the older Avatar from pulling the younger into a tight hug._

_"I'm so sorry." The Avatars whispered to each other before collapsing into a heap right there on the beach._

...

"I'm sorry…" Korra whimpered.

"It's okay. You're doing great." Aang told her, not having the slightest clue that she was apologizing to him.

"I am _so _sorry." Korra whispered again. She felt so ashamed of what happened on the beach. If she hadn't run off and cried herself to sleep in that cave she never would've triggered the Avatar State and she wouldn't have hurt Aang. The feeling had been eating her up inside ever since it happened, it was driving her to do this. Korra didn't want to drag her brother into the Avatar State… or even the Spirit World ever again. She was unlocking her chakras for Aang, to make up for hurting him and hopefully prevent it from ever happening again. _'In order to protect Aang, you need to accept that this happened and move on.'_ The little girl thought to herself.

"Breathe…" Aang reminded his sister when he noticed her breathing speed up. Korra nodded and took deep breaths, trying to leave the image of Aang in the sand out of her mind. It didn't disappear like she thought it would, which only made her breathing more erratic.

"Korra." Aang put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm here, everything is going to be fine. Come to terms with what happened and let it slip away." Korra focused on the comforting feeling of Aang's touch and thought back to her Earth chakra. If she could let go of her fear of hurting Aang, she should be able to let go of her shame over it. Taking long, deep breaths Korra worked on letting the shame of what happened on the beach go. As soon as it was over, Korra relaxed, but the feeling of calm didn't stay.

…

In her mind, Korra was transported to a few hours before the incident at the beach took place.

_"Get out of my house!" Senna yelled. "How can you do this to her? She's no Avatar!" Senna stood up slamming her hands on the table. "Korra I don't want you associating with this man again! Do I make myself perfectly clear?"_

_"B… but mom! I am the Avatar!" Korra managed to squeak out. Aang frowned sadly, he felt bad for his little sister._

_"You're not making this any easier for her. This is why she chose not to share who she was with anyone who could help her. Can't you see how afraid she is?" Aang said the words calmly and rationally, trying to get Senna and Tonraq to understand the weight of their actions. The words only served to make the situation even more tense. Tonraq took a deep breath, rising from his seat to lean over the table._

_"Let me make myself clear." Tonraq poked his finger into Aang's chest. "You are to stay away from my daughter. You've overstayed your welcome. Now get out before I kick you out!" Tonraq shoved Aang backwards towards the door. "The Avatar is not welcome in my home!"_

_"Yes sir. I'm sorry Korra." Aang sighed sadly, he couldn't face Korra as he turned to go. Seeing how upset her brother was sent Korra over the edge. She glared up at her parents._

_"Aang wait!" Korra yelled, looking directly at her parents. "If the Avatar isn't welcome in your house then I have to go too!" She stood up, her fists shaking from a combination of fear and anger. Korra took a deep breath and levitated a large chunk of their stone floor, throwing it across the room before producing a good sized flame in her palm, and finally extinguishing it a stream of water. Senna and Tonraq were shocked. Aang beamed with pride. He knew the only reason Korra had had the courage to display her bending in front of her parents was because she was standing up for him._

_"Korra." Senna breathed, reaching to pull Korra in a hug._

_"No!" Korra screamed, angry tears filling her eyes. "I'm not allowed here anymore! You just said the Avatar isn't welcome in this house!" The young Avatar's tears finally spilled as she raced past Aang and ran out the front door._

...

Korra's words rang in her head. Those had been the last words that she'd said to her parents before she had been dragged off on this spiritual retreat to open her chakras. Of course she felt ashamed for yelling at her parents and throwing a fit like that. Mako, Bolin, and Opal were all orphans who didn't have parents and Asami's only living parent was more concerned with business affairs than his daughter, and her she was with two loving parents that she constantly lied to and then yelled at when they found out she'd been lying. It didn't seem fair to her friends and it certainly wasn't fair to her parents.

"_We love you Korra, you know you can tell us anything."_ The tiny Avatar girl heard her parents voices say in unison, it made her want to cry. Would they still be saying that after everything she'd done… after not telling them she was the Avatar? _"We'd love you no matter what you do." _Korra remembered her parents always telling her. _'Well, it's time for you to prove it.'_ Korra decided. There was nothing she could do to take back what she'd done, but she was accepting it. Korra told herself that her mom and dad would forgive her because they were her parents and it was the only way she could justify letting this go. Once she did she felt incredibly light though.

…

"Korra?" Aang asked, as the younger Avatar's eyes slowly fluttered open. "How are you feeling?" He asked, slightly concerned by the amount of time she'd been meditating.

"I feel good. Good, but... tired." The little waterbender admitted, looking around somewhat disoriented. Korra frowned when she saw that the sun was completely set and it was dark out. "Aang!" she panicked, she hadn't realized how long it had taken her to open her chakra.

"Shh… it's alright." He told her. "It took you a long time, but you unlocked your Fire chakra."

"But it was barely even noon when we got here!" Korra screeched, jumping up to look for the path. "How are we going to get back to camp?!" She cried, pulling on her ponytails. Aang laughed and caught her by the shoulders.

"Relax." Aang took a deep breath, prompting her to do the same. Once Aang was satisfied that Korra had calmed down a little bit, he started to tell her the plan. "We are going to camp here overnight and head back to Appa in the morning. This is why we take breaks, little sister."

"Aang we'll freeze!" Korra complained, rubbing her arms as she realized how low the temperature had dipped without the sun to warm the mountaintop. Aang shook his head.

"You forget a lot of things when you get all worked up." Aang lit a fire in his palm. "You're a firebender too… we aren't going to freeze."

"Oh… right." She laughed awkwardly. Aang smiled and pulled some slabs of earth up to form a little tent around them, shielding them from the wind. Aang sighed and layed down on the ground. "Try to get some sleep." He told Korra, producing a small flame in his hand to keep them warm. Korra sighed and layed on in the grass, staring up at the point their little teepee made for a few minutes before she crawled over to Aang. Her brother's eyes were closed, but he could feel her presence.

"Korra, sleep." He sighed, not bothering to open his eyes. Korra rolled her eyes at him and untied her parka from around her waist, she draped it over Aang as best she could before laying down again and cuddling into his chest.

"Goodnight big brother." She whispered.

"Goodnight little sister." Aang whispered back, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Aang?" Korra asked, playing with one of the tassels that was hanging down from her parka.

"Korra?" Aang replied tiredly.

"I'm sorry you have to sleep on the grass because of me." Korra frowned, twirling the tassel in her fingers. Aang sighed.

"Really, it's fine. I've slept on grass before. Go to sleep Korra." Aang yawned, already almost asleep because he had been tired to begin with that day.

"I slept on grass once before. I was camping with Mako, Bolin, Opal, and Asami! It was so fun!" The little Avatar gushed, getting almost halfway through her story before realizing Aang had fallen asleep. Korra sighed and cuddled against him, she felt safe with him and the little fire was keeping her nice and warm. "Goodnight Aang." She whispered again before finally closing her eyes to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: So there's another chakra down. I think I might check in on the Gaang and the Krew next chapter. What do you guys think? Review please!**


	12. Team Avatars

**A/N: As promised this chapter will deal with the friends of the Avatars. Sorry I haven't posted for a while I was really sick.**

* * *

"It's all your fault!" Asami yelled at Katara for what seemed like the millionth time in the days Korra and Aang had been gone. Neither the older group or the younger group wanted to admit that their Avatar was wrong and that was causing a major rift between them.

"_My _fault? How is this _my_ fault?" The hotheaded waterbender shot back, she wasn't even sure what they were fighting about this time. Regardless, Zuko came to stand by her side when he heard the younger girl picking a fight again.

"Calm down Katara. This girl isn't worth your breath." Zuko glared at Asami, who in turn shot her own dirty look his way.

"Hey!" Mako saw what was happening and walked over to them. "Stop it! Stop with all this fighting! I've been thinking about this a lot since Korra and Aang left. We say Aang's to blame, you say it's Korra's, but actually it's us." Mako looked around the group of people standing before him, he wanted their reaction before he continued.

"Wow. The kid actually has a good point." Sokka agreed, looking at the face if each of his friends as he spoke. "Aang took Korra somewhere not because they were fighting with each other, but because all of us were fighting with one another."

"What are you trying to say?" Asami demanded, crossing her arms tight over her chest. Mako spoke up again.

"They left because we're all terrible friends." The young firebender sighed, he felt terrible about the way he'd been acting.

"So what do we do?" Opal wondered out loud, feeding litchi nuts to Pabu and Momo. "These little guys don't seem to mind each other." She added, looking from her friends to the older benders.

"We need to stop fighting and get along... for Aang and Korra." Suki offered, hoping everyone would be okay with the suggestion.

"We all want the same things." Toph added on to what Suki had said. "We want our Avatar to be safe and to help him do his job, you guys want your Avatar to be safe and to help her do her job."

"Exactly." Mako nodded. "It's time that the Krew and the Gaang joined up to form Team Avatars." Mako thought of Korra as he voiced the idea, he didn't especially like the idea, but wanted what was best for his friend.

"Team Avatars huh?" Katara thought about that for a moment before deciding Aang would want his friends to do this. "Well, it's better than fighting all the time. What do you guys think?" Katara looked at each of her friends waiting for their answers, Mako did the same with his group. For the first time in a week they all seemed to agree on something.

"We should go look for them." Sokka suggested, turning to look at Zuko.

"What?" Zuko narrowed his eyes at him. "I don't see why you think I somehow magically know where Aang and Korra are!"

"Really?" Toph chuckled. "Because I'm blind and I see why he would think that."

"Leave him alone!" Katara hugged Zuko's arm, kissing his shoulder. "Zuzu…" She looked up at him with an innocent look in her eyes. The Fire Lord sighed, knowing that Katara was siding with the group over him on this one.

"Katara, please don't make me track down the Avatars." The firebender begged. Katara frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry love, it's the only way." Katara kissed him gently, trailing her fingers along Zuko's arm.

"Fine." Zuko faked a scowl for the benefit of the rest of the Gaang. "We can take one of my airships." The Fire Lord looked at the group of children who were snickering under their breath at the little exchange between him and Katara. "Go tell the people in charge of you that you're coming with us."

"Whatever you say lover boy!" Opal laughed, Asami made kissy faces at the Fire Lord. Bolin and Mako exchanged glances, silently impressed that Katara had a man of such power wrapped around her little finger.

"We should go talk to Tonraq and Senna." Suki sighed, looking to Sokka. Korra's parents hadn't been the most understanding about what had happened at the beach. The young Avatar's parents had agreed to giving Aang a week to come back without telling anyone else that there were two Avatars, but that week was ending today and they were still livid.

"I'll go with you." Sokka put his arm around Suki's shoulders and looked to Zuko and Katara. "You two get the airship. Toph, you watch the kids and make sure they don't cause any trouble."

"We don't need to be babysat." Mako interrupted, crossing his arms. "I mean not for nothing but Opal, Bo, and I live on the streets. Asami's dad is always too busy inventing to even care what Asami is doing, so it's not like he's father of the year. If we're all going to get along on Team Avatars we want to be treated as equals."

"Yeah!" The other three children agreed in unison. The older group looked at one another, nodding.

"We can do that… _if _you start treating us with respect." Katara answered. The kids scowled, but agreed to treating the older benders with respect.

"Okay, now that this is all sorted out let's get moving. We'll meet back at the cliff in an hour." Sokka looked around and when they saw that there were no objections walked with his wife to Tonraq and Senna's house. When they knocked, it was a very disgruntled looking Senna who answered.

"Did you find my baby?" She asked, arms tightly crossed over her chest. Suki and Sokka looked to each other.

"Well, not exactly…" Sokka told her, chewing on his lip.

"Well then we have no choice but to go to the police with this!" Senna argued, her loud tone resulted in Tonraq joining her in the doorway.

"Where is my daughter?" Tonraq demanded, not letting Suki or Sokka inside. Sokka was about to answer but Suki took a step forward starting to explain.

"We agree with you that Korra and Aang have been gone for an unacceptable amount of time, but we urge you to keep this quiet. If the world finds out there are two Avatars before Korra is

fully trained there will be chaos. Sokka and I, along with the Fire Lord, Katara, Toph, and Korra's friends are going on a mission to find Korra and Aang. We will bring them home to you, but you need to keep your daughter's secret for a little bit longer." The Kyoshi Warrior's pitch was solid and for a second it seemed like Tonraq and Senna were considering her words. At the end of the day Suki's words had been in vain.

"We gave you the week that you asked for." Senna frowned, pressing into Tonraq's chest.

"Perhaps if you're groups had spent that week looking for Korra and Aang you wouldn't be here now!" Tonraq seemed to be getting more and more angry as he spoke to Suki and Sokka. "If our telling the authorities makes it harder for you to find Korra then that's too bad, I want my daughter back _now._" With that the waterbender slammed the door closed and that was the last there was to be said about the matter.

"So now what?" Sokka asked Suki, the young woman pursed her lips and let her breath out through her nose.

"Now we need to try and find the Avatars before anyone else does." Suki shook her head. "When the world finds out that the Avatar Spirit is split who knows what they'll do?"

"They're going to think like we did in the beginning." Sokka frowned. "Aang vs Korra. Which one of them deserves to be the Avatar?" The Water Tribe warrior knew that it was imperative that they found Korra and Aang before anyone else. "Let's get to the cliff. Hopefully everyone is already ready and we can leave now!" Sokka took Suki's hand and ran with her to the cliff. Toph was there with the kids, but Katara and Zuko weren't back yet.

"Okay, so bad news…" Suki looked at Toph and the younger benders. "Korra's parents are going to tell the world that Korra's the Avatar."

"What!? No! They can't do that!" Mako screamed, huge blazes erupting from his hands. Bolin rested his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Mako calm down." The young earthbender pleaded.

"We kept Korra's secret for years! They can't do that to her!" Asami cried. Opal nodded in agreement.

"When people find out that Korra _and_ Aang are the Avatar it's not going to be a good thing for either of them." The little girl frowned. Suki nodded, a sad expression on her face.

"I know Opal, that's why we need to find our friends before anyone else does." Suki agreed, everyone knew how serious this situation had become.

"Katara and Zuko will be back any second." Toph informed the others. "I feel the ground starting to vibrate…"

"Huh…" Bolin looked over to the more experienced bender. "I feel it too. I guess your lessons are actually helping!"

"Can we please not worry about your bending abilities right now!? We need to think of where Korra might be!" Mako snapped at his brother, he was going crazy with worry now that he knew people would soon be out looking to potentially hurt Korra.

"Calm down, Mako." Asami frowned. "Yelling at Bolin isn't going to help anything."

"Look!" Sokka pointed at the airship that was starting to land at the end of the cliff. "Let's go!" Sokka didn't waste time before he sprinted towards the airship, the others following close behind.

"We need to go now!" Suki yelled, going up to Katara and Zuko.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down! What happened?" The Fire Lord asked, Katara looked to Sokka for answers.

"What's going on Sokka?" The waterbender asked.

"Korra's mom and dad are going to tell the world that Korra's the Avatar! If we don't find Korra and Aang before someone else does something bad could happen to both of them!" Mako screamed, angry tears springing up out of nowhere. Katara stood there stunned but Zuko jumped into action.

"Let's get this ship in the air! I want this rig running at top speed!" Zuko watched as a few crew members ran to follow his orders.

"Where are we heading?" The pilot of the ship asked. Zuko looked at him, an expression of certainty grew on his face.

"Let's check the Air Temples first." The Fire Lord ordered, two minutes later Team Avatars found themselves in the air on their way to the various Air Temples to hopefully find their friends.


	13. The Air Chakra

"What chakra are we working on today?" Korra was laying on the floor of the Air Temple, after finishing her breakfast. Aang was folding up their blankets and putting them away in Appa's saddle.

"What chakra do you think we're working on?" He asked deciding that if Korra had already opened her Earth, Water, and Fire chakra's the answer was pretty obvious.

"I'm guessing the Air chakra?" Korra asked, propping herself up on her elbows, she was excited that after opening today's chakra she'd be more than halfway done with the process.

"You're exactly right!" Aang grinned, proud of his sister. "This one should be pretty easy for you." The older Avatar told the younger. Korra sighed watching as Aang finished feeding Appa and walked over to her.

"Aang, air is the one element I can't bend yet. How can you possibly think that the element I can't bend is going to be an easy chakra for me to open?" Korra threw her hands up in the air, shaking her head. "Think about it! I'm probably not going to be able to open it at all and we're going to be stuck pulling each other in and out of the Avatar State forever!" Aang chuckled at Korra's dramatic display.

"Come on." Aang motioned for the little waterbender to follow him as he started walking across the Air Temple grounds. "You do realize you don't need to be an airbender to unlock this chakra right?" Aang asked after a few minutes of silence had passed, he could tell that the younger Avatar had very little confidence in her ability to open this chakra.

"I know." Korra sighed, still sounding deflated as the pair arrived at a partially destroyed shrine. "Let's do this." Korra groaned, settling into the lotus position. It was Aang's turn to sigh as he sat across from her.

"Korra don't treat it like a chore or it's going to be just that much more difficult. This is the Air chakra! Air is supposed to be free!" Aang held his arms open, gesturing to the blue sky above them. Korra rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay! What is this chakra supposed to do?" She asked, trying to genuinely take an interest in the chakra that belonged to her brother's native element. Her attitude adjustment didn't go unnoticed.

"That's the spirit!" Aang grinned before regaining his composure and taking on the persona of Guru Aang once again. "The Air chakra is located in the heart." Aang explained. Korra seemed to perk up a bit when she heard that.

"Does that mean it's about love?" The waterbender asked, smiling widely. Aang nodded, impressed by Korra's contribution.

"Yes, the Air chakra deals with love, but is ruled by grief." Aang lectured, watching as a perplexed expression crossed the young Avatar's face. "What?" Aang asked, wanting to know what the look was for.

"What is grief?" The little girl asked, tilting her head to the side as she waited expectantly for her teacher's answer. Aang thought about it for a while. The airbender had been Korra's age when he was unlocking his chakra's, but he'd experienced the death of all airbenders and had been trapped in a bubble of ice for one hundred years.

"Well, I guess grief is sort've like being sad… but more than just sad. Grief is like a deep sorrow that pulls at your heart and makes you feel hopeless." The expression of confusion on Korra's face didn't change. "You still don't get it do you?" Aang asked, doing his best to keep the exasperation out of his voice, explaining this wasn't as easy as he thought.

"Not really." Korra frowned. "I'm sorry Aang. Maybe you could tell me what your Air chakra was blocked by and it would help me understand better." Korra's suggestion seemed like a good one, but Aang didn't want to get into how he'd been driven by his love for Katara with a twelve year old girl, especially because Katara had ended up betrothed to Zuko.

"Well…" Aang sighed. How could he tell his sister no when he expected her to be open with him. "Okay, I'll tell you." Aang sighed. "Okay, don't make a big deal about it."

"Just tell me!" Korra laughed, playfully pushing Aang a little. The airbender raised an eyebrow, suspicious that Korra was going to laugh or make some comment about what he was about to say.

"My grief came from the fact that after I woke up from being trapped in an iceberg for one hundred years, I found that all of the other airbenders had been killed during the war." Aang looked pained by the memory. "I ran away and my people needed me."

"Oh…" Korra frowned, sad to hear such a horrible story. She shrugged it off, trying to make light of it for her brother's sake. "What was the love you were driven by?" She asked innocently, Aang wrinkled up his face, he'd hoped she'd forgotten about that.

"I was in love with that waterbender from my group, Katara." Aang admitted, averting his eyes from the teasing he was expecting. "She's betrothed to Zuko, the firebender in my group."

"Ouch… that's pretty rough." Korra replied, not making fun of the man before her at all. Aang slowly brought his eyes up to look at Korra, when he saw she was genuinely sorry to hear that he didn't end up with the girl he loved he opened up.

"Yeah. It was pretty rough for a while." Aang shrugged. "I let her go because I love her enough to let her be happy. Besides, Zuko's my best friend, I couldn't do that to him."

"You're a good person. I don't think I'd be able to let someone I love go." Korra smiled, oblivious to what the final chakra would force her to do, Aang didn't have the heart to tell her yet. "Who knows? Maybe you'll find some pretty girl you love even more than Katara and you'll forget all about her."

"Maybe." Aang smiled. "It would be nice if I found a girlfriend since Katara and Zuko are together and Suki and Sokka are married." Aang looked down at his sister and realized he was divulging too much information. "Wait a second! This is about you and your Air chakra, not my love life!"

"Or lack of love life." Korra snickered. Aang rolled his eyes and straightened, letting the young mini-Avatar know the time for games was over.

"Lotus position." Aang instructed, waiting for Korra to get situated. "Do you understand what grief is now?"

"Yes. It's when your best friend steals your girlfriend." Korra fought to hold it in but a laugh slipped out. Aang facepalmed and shook his head, the usually patient man was having a hard time keeping his cool demeanor at the moment.

"She was never my girlfriend! I liked her, that's all!" The usually serene airbender's voice raised to a yelling level.

"Okay… I'm sorry." Korra held her hands up in surrender but kept her smirk as she settled into position and closed her eyes. The twelve year old wracked her brain for any grief she felt. It was a long time before a dark, fuzzy vision clouded her mind.

…

"_Korra!" The sound of her name was muffled because it had been spoken underwater, the young girl couldn't place the voice just yet, she was mentally somewhere far from the flooded cave. Almost instantaneously after she heard her name, Korra felt the sensation of hands closing around her wrists and the flow of water moving around her. "Korra!" The voice choked out. "Korra it's okay! I'm here. You're safe! You're safe now!" The last few words echoed in her head until the tiny Avatar went limp in the sand, she could barely muster any strength but she managed to let her eyelids flutter open for half a second. Mako. Mako was the one that had saved her, the one that had ignored the danger and risked his life to save Korra's. _

"Mako." Korra whispered so quietly that there was no way Aang could've heard her. Tears sprang to her eyes as the blurry vision continued.

"_I don't know what happened to you, but I promise I'm not going to let those other benders hurt you, Korra." The young boy's hand gently caressed Korra's cheek as he spoke. "I know you're scared right now and you don't know who you can trust, but I want you to know you have me. You'll _always_ have me." A tear rolled down off of Mako's face onto Korra's, he wasn't even aware she could hear what he was saying. _

"Mako…" Korra whispered even more quietly than before and wiped at her tears. The young Avatar hadn't even realized this had happened until now, she'd been too weak at the time. A sense of incredible sadness washed over her when she started thinking about what she'd put this boy, her best friend, through. How could she have been so selfish? The memory wasn't quite done though.

"_Korra, whatever's going on with you right now… I want you to know it's okay. Even if everyone else is mad at you, know that I'm not. I was just so scared that something bad happened to you when Aang collapsed like that. Spirits, Korra I thought I'd lost you forever! I never ever want to have to feel that way again. Not ever." Finally, Mako scooped Korra up in his arms, hugging her into his chest so he knew she was safe and started carrying her up the beach._

...

"Not ever." Korra breathed, the tears streaming down her face only flowed faster when she thought of what this boy must be feeling right now. He hadn't even gotten the chance to see that she was alright before Aang had escaped with her on Appa.

"Korra? Are you alright?" Aang asked, his voice filled with concern for his little sister. Korra pretended she was too caught up in her chakra to hear him. There was just so much pain, and hurt, and sadness that Korra felt bubbling up within herself. The tiny Avatar now knew the feeling of grief. _'Let go for him. The faster you unlock all seven chakras, the faster you can see Mako.' _Korra thought to herself, focusing on regaining control of her now erratic breaths.

"Let it go." Korra breathed. "Let it go_._" Korra told herself again, this time with more conviction. "If you love him _let... it... go…_"The young Avatar concentrated harder than she ever had in her entire life. She willed herself to leave her grief behind but couldn't. Instantly, her eyes flew open, there was a new fierceness in them as she stood up.

"Did you unlock your…" Aang started but Korra held her hand up, silencing him.

"I need a minute. Stay here, I'll come back when I'm ready." Korra's voice held a sharpness in it that kept Aang from stopping her.

"Okay, be careful." The older Avatar said simply, knowing better than to argue. Korra nodded once before walking away. Once she was out of sight Korra broke into a run, sprinting to the river that had started her lessons in clearing her chakras. As soon as she got to the soft squishy land right before the water, she fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Minutes passed and her anger grew.

"Why did you have to take me away from him!?" Korra screamed, thinking of how hurt Mako must be and how it could've been avoided if Aang hadn't brought her here in the first place. Korra stood up and punched the air, to her surprise a good sized flame came shooting out of her palm, it was fueled by red hot anger. The young Avatar let a few more enraged fireballs fly, letting a little bit of her anger go with each burst. "Why couldn't they just get along?!" Korra raged, fire still flying. "Why couldn't they just accept me _and_ Aang?!" After almost another twenty minutes of carrying on like that Korra had blown off some steam and was feeling better, she bent the water out of the river to extinguish any hotspots she'd left in the grass and slowly made her way back over to the shrine she'd left Aang at.

"Feeling better?" Aang asked when Korra had reassumed the lotus position, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

"Yes." Korra answered calmly. "Now if you don't mind, I need some quiet." Aang obliged and Korra picked up where she'd left off. _"If you love him let it go..." _The young waterbender drew in a breath, breathing in all the positive energy she could. Exhaling, Korra let go of her grief because, as she'd come to realize that day, she loved Mako.

* * *

**A/N: I am super happy with the way this chapter came out! I hope you liked it too, it was a little on the heavier side. Let me know what you thought in a review!**

**PS: It was very hard for me to not sing _Let It Go _(From Frozen) in a couple spots... just in case you were wondering... which I know you weren't.**


	14. Fight, Forgive, Forget

**A/N: Well, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with only three chakras left to unlock. I don't want to rush into them, so I decided a break from the chakras is in order.**

* * *

"Hey Korra." Aang sat down at the side of the river next to the young girl. Korra didn't acknowledge that he sat down, she just continued swirling little patterns in the water. "I've been looking for you all morning." Aang tried, Korra didn't respond. "Hey... Korra... is there something you want to talk about? It seems like something's bothering you."

"No." Korra replied shortly. Aang frowned, trying to think back to when this coldness towards him had begun. Finally, the airbender decided the problem had started the day before when Korra had been unlocking her Air chakra. Aang knew Korra had had a tough time with the chakra, but didn't know why.

"Korra, is this about what happened yesterday?" Aang asked. Korra dropped the water she was swirling around and looked over to her brother.

"I don't want to talk to you right now." Korra informed the older Avatar. Aang nodded, he'd never really had this problem with her before.

"I know that opening your chakras isn't an easy thing, but if you talk to me and tell me what's going on it won't be as hard."

"No, Aang! I can't talk to you! I'm mad at you!" Korra crossed her arms, turning away from him. Aang frowned and looked into the swiftly flowing river.

"I'm sorry." It hurt Aang to know his sister was angry with him. He'd do anything to make things right by her. "Whatever I did to make you angry, with me I promise you I didn't mean it."

"But Aang..." Korra turned to look at him, her eyes glassy from unshed tears. "You hurt him too!" Now Aang was thoroughly confused.

"Who is the 'him' you're talking about?" Aang asked gently. Korra looked back to the river, she didn't say anything. The young Avatar didn't know how to tell her brother she was in love at twelve years old... it seemed impossible that anyone could be. "Korra?" Aang pressed a little.

"You wouldn't understand." Korra replied sadly, shaking her head as her tears threatened to spill over. Aang frowned and reached over, pulling the small girl into his chest. Korra's tears finally came as she wrapped her arms around her brother.

"Shh... It's going to be alright." Aang whispered as he held the crying girl, rubbing her back in small circular patterns. Korra stayed like that in the older Avatar's arms for what seemed like a long time. The sun had risen to tell them it was past noon when Korra finally calmed down enough to talk to Aang.

"You know the Air chakra?" Korra sniffled, her head still pressed into Aang's chest. The airbender chuckled softly at the silly question.

"Yes, I know the Air chakra. What about it?" Aang wondered, very interested in the answer he was going to get.

"It deals with love and is ruled by grief." Korra reminded him, she knew he already knew that but couldn't think of a better way to explain.

"That's true." Aang agreed, trying to appease Korra as she tried explaining what was making her so upset.

"Well... I sorta... I..." Korra sighed, popping and unpopping the cap to her water pouch over and over nervously. "I found out I love someone." Korra sat up so she could face Aang. "Like... I love, love him." The little Avatar's blue eyes burned with such a fierce intensity that Aang knew she wasn't joking about this.

"But that's great news!" Aang smiled. "Why are you so upset about it?" He wondered. Apparently it was the wrong thing to say to Korra. The young girl stood up, throwing her hands in the air.

"Aang, you took me away! I just collapsed on the beach and that was the last he saw of me! He doesn't even know if I'm okay or not! He's probably worried sick about me and it's all your fault!" Korra turned to the river, sending a huge wall of water towards her brother, Aang surrounded himself in an air dome to avoid getting wet. The older Avatar was amazed at how quickly Korra's sadness had turned into anger again.

"Come on Korra, don't take this out on me." Aang stood, holding his hands up in surrender. "I brought you here because my friends wouldn't have..." Korra didn't let Aang finish before sending shards of ice towards him. The more experienced Avatar redirected them to the river.

"You took me away from Mako! You took me away from all my friends, and Naga, and my mom and dad!" The little girl stomped her foot, cracking the earth beneath her. She was getting angrier and angrier every second. Aang noticed the wind had begun to pick up and the serene babbling of the river had turned into a roar. He quickly realized the situation wasn't going to end well if this kept up.

"I'm sorry I took you without asking you if it was okay. I was just trying to protect you." Aang saw that his words were only making things worse. "Korra, please calm down." He begged.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Korra closed her eyes and shook her head. Aang frowned, reaching out to take her by her shoulders.

"I'm sorry. Please calm down though. You don't want to trigger the..." Aang was silenced with a huge blast of water knocking him back almost twenty feet into a tree. Korra glared at Aang, her eyes sparking a bright white color before flickering back to their normal blue.

"Don't touch me!" She screamed at him, attempting to throw another wave at him. Aang sent the water flying in every direction with his airbending.

"Korra stop! Please!" Aang felt the familiar twinge within him that he felt before he went into the Avatar State.

"You stop!" Korra yelled, this time with the voices of the Avatar's before her. Korra's eyes glowed bright white and Aang felt himself slipping away. The older Avatar fought against the urge to enter the Avatar State, but inevitably his tattoos began to glow. Before long elements were whirling around in all directions and a massive fight broke out. Aang dodged water whips as Korra jumped out of the way of chunks of rock, moments later Aang's air blades were stopped as they met Korra's fire bombs. The two Avatar's kept this dance up for a while, every attack sent towards either of them was countered before it had any hope of doing damage. The way the two were fighting made it look like they were more in tune with each other than ever, like the Avatar Spirit wouldn't fight for the reason Aang and Korra were trying to use it. The fighting went on for as long as the Avatar's could manage to throw elements around, but after a while they both started losing their energy until Korra, then Aang collapse in a heap by the riverbank.

…

Hours later, Aang's eyes fluttered open and he found himself staring up at the sky peeking through the trees. The older Avatar just layed there and shook his head, ashamed of how he'd acted towards Korra while he was in the Avatar State. Korra might not have control over herself in the Avatar State yet because she didn't open all of her chakras yet, but Aang knew exactly what he'd been doing and knew it was wrong. With a sigh Aang sat up, scanning the area for his little sister, she was sitting by the riverbank with her knees pulled into her chest, silent tears falling to create little rings in the river. Aang quietly got to his feet and made his way over to Korra.

"Hey…" Aang put his arm around her, letting her lean against him. "I am so sorry for what happened today." Aang sighed. "You're one hundred percent right. I shouldn't have taken you here without telling you. I'm sorry about taking you without letting Mako and the rest of your friends know you were alright. I'm sorry I hurt you… it was never my intention." Aang let the apology hang for a while before Korra finally spoke.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into the Avatar State… _again_." Korra sniffled, her body shaking as more tears came, clearly she felt awful about what she'd done. Aang pulled her into his lap and rested his head on top of hers.

"It wasn't all your fault, I should've left you alone and gave you your space." Aang sighed. "I'm just glad we didn't hurt each other fighting like that."

"It was almost like I _couldn't_ hurt you, Aang." Korra peeked up at him, wondering if he'd experienced the same feeling while they were fighting. Aang nodded in agreement with her.

"I guess the Avatar Spirit knows better than to fight itself." Aang offered. "Even though you haven't opened your chakras and you have no control in the Avatar State you still didn't hurt me. Neither one of us got a hit in."

"I'm glad I didn't hurt you." Korra frowned, a tear rolling down her cheek. "You're my big brother now, I love you. I don't want you to be hurt because of me." The young waterbender wiped her eyes on her shirt, still very upset.

"I love you too, little sister. I don't like to see you hurting because of me either." Aang squeezed the little girl tight in his arms. "Brothers and sisters fight Korra, we're going to be alright."

"I hope so." Korra sighed. "I'm sorry Aang."

"I know you are." Aang stood up then, helping Korra onto her feet as he did. "Now." Aang plastered a smile onto his face. "We totally destroyed this place but I think we should leave it… sort've as a reminder of what happens when the two most powerful benders in the world think they can outdo one another."

"It results in chaos!" Korra smiled slightly.

"Total imbalance!" The older Avatar nodded. "Now, let's go do something… less destructive. Unless of course you still hate me?" Aang asked, tilting his head to the side dramatically while he waited for her answer. Korra sighed softly.

"I don't hate you. If you didn't bring me here who knows what bad things could've happened..."

"Well there's no use thinking about it now." Aang smiled slightly. "I noticed that in the Avatar State you could airbend."

"Yeah? I thought the Avatar could bend all four elements in the Avatar State." Korra failed to see the point her brother was trying to make.

"Well they can, but if they don't know the element it doesn't work as well. _Clearly_, you know air." Aang took his airbending stance and looked over to Korra. "Watch. I'm going to teach you a simple airbending trick." Aang grinned and swirled the air into a spinning ball and jumped on top of it, riding it in a large circle around Korra.

"Whoa!" Korra was amazed by the air scooter. "That's so cool!"

"If you learn how to do it we can race around the Air Temple!" Aang encouraged. Korra nodded and Aang jumped off of his scooter. "Like this." Aang instructed, walking the native waterbender through the steps of creating the spinning top. To her amazement, Korra actually managed to create the mass of spiraling air after only a few tries.

"I can't believe it! I airbended!" Korra yelled, jumping up and down.

"You did!" Aang smiled, hugging her tightly. "I knew you could do it!" The older Avatar beamed with pride at the fact that he had another airbender to bend with after all these years. "Ready to race?"

"Let's do it!" Korra smiled, creating another air scooter and jumping on. Aang made one of his own and the two raced around the Air Temple together for hours, the events from earlier that day long forgotten.

* * *

**A/N: So, it wasn't exactly a 'fun break' until the end, but I needed to deal with Korra's little attitude problem from the previous chapter because it was driving me insane! Leave me a review and let me know what you thought!**


	15. The Sound Chakra

Today marked three days since Korra and Aang's fight. Since then no work to unlock Korra's chakra had been made. Instead, Aang had been showing Korra how to airbend. Korra was a surprisingly fast learner when she had a teacher as good as Aang to help her.

"So do you think you can show me how to glide today?" Korra asked as she finished up her breakfast and helped clean up around camp. Aang smiled at her enthusiasm but shook his head.

"Not today." Aang laughed at the disappointed look that appeared on Korra's face. "We're going to work on your fifth chakra today. Follow me." Aang said as he started walking. Korra sighed, rolling her eyes, she'd grown rather tired of the grueling task this had become.

"There are no elements left Aang, we did Earth, Water, Fire, and Air already." The tiny Avatar sighed. "Chakras are so… ugh!" Korra threw her hands up in exasperation, causing Aang to chuckle.

"Chakras are essential to the life of the Avatar." Aang told her, bringing her to a stop in front of an old statue of an Air Nomad nun. "Sit." Aang ordered.

"I'm sitting, I'm sitting. Calm down." Korra rolled her eyes as she slowly sat down across from Aang and arranged herself in lotus position. "Tell me, oh great and powerful guru, what chakra are we unlocking today?"

"Korra…" Aang warned, the young girl held her hands up in surrender, after a moment Aang decided to continue. "Today you are going to work on clearing your Sound chakra."

"Okay, what's that?" Korra asked, rationalizing that the more she cooperated the sooner this would be done with, she never really had been one for the spiritual side of bending.

"The Sound chakra is located in the throat, it deals with truth and is ruled by lies." Aang watched as Korra threw her arms up and let herself fall onto her back.

"My whole life is based off a lie!" The girl complained. "This is going to take _hours_."

"That was a lie you told other people, this chakra deals with lies you tell yourself." Aang thought back to his own Sound chakra, trying to give Korra a hint without flat out telling her the answer. Korra didn't seem to understand but repositioned herself in the lotus position and closed her eyes.

…

"_Welcome!" Master Kayua grinned as six year old Korra showed up for her first one on one training session. Master Kayua had been training her to be a waterbender since she was just about four years old and had seen promising signs of a truly powerful bender in the young girl._

"_Thank you for having me." Korra responded, her parents had reminded her to be on her very best behavior when she was dropped off. _

"_You are one of the best little waterbenders I've had in a long time." The woman smiled. "Your technique is very advance for a girl your age." Korra gulped, she already knew that she was the Avatar, but didn't want to tell anyone besides her friends yet. Although she trusted Master Kayua, she would always have to be just a waterbender with her. _

"_Thank you Master Kayua. I practice all of my bending everyday just like you tell us in class." Korra managed to smile at the woman, telling herself over and over she was just a waterbending student and that none of her success had to do with her being the Avatar. Of course, being the Avatar gave her an unfair advantage when she started class at four, went to one on one sessions at six, and everyday in training up until she'd left. Everyday before class Korra remembered telling herself she was 'just a normal waterbender' and reminded herself to bend only water. _

"You are _not_ just a waterbender." Korra told herself out loud, almost shocked by how easy it was to resolve the lies in the scene that played out before her.

…

"You're doing great Korra." Aang praised as Korra exhaled and let go of her first lie. The little Avatar nodded slightly as another image started up in her head. This time she was older and she'd already told the Krew who she really was.

"_What do you want to start with today?" Asami asked Korra. All of the young girl's friends were there to teach her. Opal helped her with airbending since she was an avid reader of the element, Asami would spar one on one with Korra in hand to hand combat, and Mako and Bolin each taught Korra their respective elements. _

"_I think I want to start with my earthbending today." Korra said a little too loudly. The bunch of kids had been sitting in Korra's backyard. Senna was in the kitchen preparing lunch and heard what her daughter had said through the open window. The woman wiped her hands off on a dishrag and got outside just in time to see Bolin raise a pillar of earth out of the ground._

"_Korra…" Senna signaled for the girl to walk over to her. The group of kids with Korra all looked at each other in horror. Korra pursed her lips and took a few steps forward._

"_Yeah mom?" _

"_Did I just hear you say you can earthbend?" The concerned mother asked looking her daughter up and down. Korra had only seconds to come up with a convincing lie._

"_Of course not mom! Only the Avatar can bend more than one element… I'm not the Avatar." The young girl willed herself to believe it was true so her mother would buy it. 'I'm not the Avatar. I'm not the Avatar. I'm not the Avatar.' Korra thought over and over again as her mother stood there scrutinizing her. _

"_Then what did you say about earthbending?" Senna questioned. Korra again had to think fast. _

"_It's a game mom. We all pretend to bend a different element… I said I wanted to be an earthbender today so Bolin was showing me what it looks like to actually bend the earth." Korra flashed her mother an innocent smile. Senna looked over to the other kids, trying to see if they would corroborate Korra's story._

"_It's true ma'am." Mako walked over to Korra, taking the water pouch off her belt. He tipped some of the water into his hand and flicked it in Korra's face. "See? Korra showed me how to be a waterbender yesterday." Korra grinned. _

"_See mom? It's a game. I can't bend more than one element! That's silly!" Korra laughed, shooting Mako a look that told him he better laugh too. _

"_More than one element?" Mako laughed. "Korra? No way!" Senna looked from Mako to Korra, then at the others who were still nervously waiting a few feet away. _

"_Yeah! I'm no Avatar!" Korra said again more to convince herself. "It's just a game." _

"Not a game… Korra mumbled, shaking her head. "It was real, I can earthbend." Just like that the issue was resolved and Korra let out a breath.

…

"Wow Korra, you're doing really well with this." Aang commented. The older Avatar had expected Korra to have a tough time with this after all the lies she'd told in her life so far. Korra again acknowledged him with a little nod before concentrating on the new images before her.

"_Okay, class today's lesson is about a very special individual. The Avatar." Korra sat up straighter as her teacher started her lesson. "Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, has the ability to bend water, earth, fire, and air. The Avatar has the ability to enter the Spirit World and the Physical World, making them the bridge between our two worlds." Korra raised her hand._

"_How do we know who the Avatar is?" Five year old Korra asked. The teacher nodded, praising the question._

"_The Avatar cycle determines what the Avatar's native element will be. Currently the Avatar is an airbender, next will be water, then earth and fire after that." The recess bell rang as the teacher finished answering Korra's question and all the kids raced out to the schoolyard. Korra was still consumed with thoughts of how cool it must be to be able to bend all four elements._

"_Hey Korra, you want to play tag with me, Bo, Opal, and Asami?" Mako asked. Korra shook her head no and sat down under a tree. Her friends sat in a loose circle around her. _

"_How cool would it be to bend all four elements?" Korra told them, popping the top off her water pouch so she could play with the water. _

"_I think it'd be cool to bend even one element." Opal giggled, making light of the fact that she was a nonbender._

"_Yeah. Be happy you have even one element!" Asami laughed. Bolin and Mako nodded._

"_I think it'd be too hard to have to deal with _all_ the elements." The earthbender admitted. _

"_Oh come on!" Korra rolled her eyes. "It's be cool and you know it!" The waterbender held her hand out in front of the group. "What would you do if I bent air right now?"_

"_Yeah right!" Mako crossed his arms. "There are no more airbenders, you know that." The firebender watched as Korra concentrated on her hand. _

"_Yeah, look!" Korra stared at her hand, thinking of the Avatar and all the different elements, giving her wrist a small flick. _

"_Korra!" All four of her friends yelled as a small flame popped up in her hand. They were all in shock at what they were seeing._

"_Ahh!" Korra screamed, just staring at it. Mako shoved his hand on top of the flames, extinguishing them before anyone looked over and noticed that the waterbender had just bent fire. _

"_Korra…" Mako looked into Korra's terrified blue eyes "Do you realize what this means?"_

"_It doesn't mean anything! I was just playing a trick on you guys!" Korra tried to lie mostly for her own benefit. "I'm not the Avatar!" She hissed at them. All of her friends looked at each other then at Korra. _

"_You are the Avatar." Opal told her carefully. "We just saw you firebend."_

"_I'm not the Avatar! I'm just a waterbender!" Korra growled, as she got up and stomped off. "I'm not the Avatar." She said again._

"I am the Avatar." Korra whispered to herself. "I am a waterbender and a firebender, an earthbender and an airbender." Korra smiled, she'd come so far from that day.

…

"I am the Avatar." Korra whispered again and opened her eyes.

"Wow… I'm impressed." Aang smiled at his sister. "You cleared your Sound chakra with all the skill of a master. Good for you."

"I guess I had no trouble with it because I'm ready to accept who I am now." Korra smiled, she felt incredibly light.

"I'm so proud of you!" Aang beamed. "I'm so glad you're learning who you are from this process."

"Right." Korra agreed. "No more lies."


	16. Searching Setbacks

**A/N: So we're getting close! Korra has one more chakra to go before we get to the **_**oh so dramatic **_**seventh chakra! That being said, we won't be opening a chakra in this chapter, I thought maybe we should check in with Team Avatars.  
**

* * *

After four days of flying the newly formed Team Avatars had managed to hit the Southern and Western Air Temples with no luck in finding their friends. Zuko ordered the pilot of the airship to continue on to the Northern Air Temple as quickly as possible.

"I really wish Senna and Tonraq hadn't told the world Korra's secret." Katara sighed, walking over to stand beside Zuko by the window, the air traffic was getting heavier and heavier as the days went on and the search for the Avatars increased.

"I know." Zuko shook his head, staring worriedly out the window. "If someone finds them before we do there's going to be chaos." Katara nodded, glancing over her shoulder to look at the younger firebender sitting across the room. All the younger children and even Suki were sitting by him, trying to get his mind of the situation they were dealing with. Sokka and Toph were off discussing what the group's next move should be if they weren't the ones to find Aang and Korra.

"I really hope we find them." Katara sighed softly. "Mako is miserable. I know he says he and Korra are just best friends, but sometimes I wonder if he likes her more than he's saying out loud." This comment brought Zuko to tear his eyes away from the sky so he could look down at Katara.

"I know he does because that's exactly how I felt about another young waterbender a few years back." The Fire Lord smirked and pulled Katara into his chest, kissing her softly. "I promise I'm going to do everything in my power to get Korra and Aang back."

"I know." Katara smiled up at him. Zuko gently tilted her head up and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"We're going to find them." Zuko told her again. Katara was about to answer him when the airship shuddered and shook violently. Across the room the kids all started screaming and Suki jumped to her feet.

"What's going on!" The Kyoshi Warrior yelled over to Katara and Zuko. They both looked just as confused as she did.

"I don't know!" Zuko loudly called over to her, trying to speak louder than the distress alarm that was now ringing out through the ship. "I'm going to go talk to the pilot! Katara stay here and keep the kids calm." With that Zuko took off running to the front of the ship.

"We've been hit!" The pilot shouted upon Zuko's arrival in the navigation room.

"By who?!" Zuko demanded. The pilot opened his mouth to answer the Fire Lord, but before he could answer another violent hit rocked the airship sending it into a spiral before it started falling out of the air.

"Sir, I need you to sit down!" The pilot shoved Zuko into the seat reserved for the absent copilot and grabbed hold of the wheel and pulled it towards himself with all his strength. Zuko sat in the seat helplessly, his eyes going wide as he watched the ground coming faster and faster towards the airship.

"We're going to crash!" Zuko screamed, throwing his arms up in front of his face as the ship collided into the ground. The impact of the crash sent Zuko and the guard flying to the ground. "Are you alright?" Zuko asked.

"I'm fine." The man on the floor nodded and moved about trying to take inventory of what was destroyed in the crash. "Were the others hurt in the initial attack?" The pilot asked. _The others_. Zuko shook his head and raced out of the room back to where he'd left the rest of his friends.

"Katara!" He screamed as he entered the dark room. The airship had lost power after they'd hit the ground. "Katara are you alright?" The Fire Lord called.

"Zuko!" Katara called over to him, her voice sounded far away.

"Katara?" Zuko called out, his eyes slowly starting to adjust to the lack of light.

"Zuko, we're over here!" The girl yelled, bringing Zuko's attention to a massive water dome that was being crushed by debris from the crash, apparently this area had seen more damage than the cockpit had. It only made sense that the front of the ship had withstood the impact of the crash better, as it was reinforced for head to head battles.

"What happened?" The firelord asked as he ran to kneel beside the bubble.

"The side of the airship caved in during the second hit, when we crashed it started to fall and Katara saved us all with her waterbending." Suki explained calmly.

"How do we get out without popping the bubble?!" Opal shrieked, frantically trying to think of other options.

"Relax." Zuko told her, trying to keep his voice in an even tone. "First of all, are you all okay? Nobody's hurt?"

"We're all okay." Mako, who was holding onto his brother, answered.

"Good." Zuko let out a sigh of relief before turning his attention back on his betrothed. "Katara, I'm going to find Toph and Sokka to help me lift this, there's no way I can move it myself. Will you be okay until then?" The Fire Lord's golden eyes bore into Katara's blue ones, he could see the fatigue she felt inside them. "I'll be fast, I promise." Zuko wasted no time in running down the hall to the chambers Sokka and Toph had been talking in.

"Zuko is that you?" Toph called out.

"It's me." Zuko answered, going over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just help me lift this thing off of Sokka!' Toph was talking about the wooden cabinet that was used to hold multiple maps, various types of compasses, and other navigational tools. Zuko looked down and saw the face of his friend contorted into one of pain. "He's hurt! Hurry up!" Zuko climbed over the pile of chairs that had once been set neatly around the table and gripped his half of the cabinet. "On three! One… Tw…"

"Lift now!" Toph ordered, straining to lift the piece of furniture. Zuko quickly worked to help her, the two of them getting the obstruction out of the way within a seconds. The Fire Lord crouched down beside Sokka, examining for injuries.

"Your arm..." Zuko lightly applied pressure to it so he could confirm his diagnosis. Sokka yelped in pain. "It's broken."

"Katara can help to heal that." Toph told Zuko. "Sokka, we need to move." The earthbender helped Sokka to his feet, expertly weaving through the destruction even without her eyes to guide her.

"About that…" Zuko frowned. "The rest of our group is trapped in a water dome… if Katara lets it go they'll be crushed."

"Wow. Flying just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?" Toph remarked sarcastically as she pushed her way into the room where the others were still trapped.

"I needed both of you to help me lift the debris out of the way, but obviously that's not going to work." Zuko frowned, looking over to the bubble in the corner of the room.

"Where are your guards?" Sokka asked.

"I haven't seen them since the morning." Zuko frowned.

"So what do we do now? I can't help you move that with my arm, it's solid iron." The Water Tribe warrior frowned, feeling like he'd let his friends down. Toph perked up a bit when she heard what he said.

"You two are idiots! Step aside!" The earthbender walked over to the bubble. "I need you all to listen closely."

"Ooookaaay…" Asami said, not quite sure where Toph was going with this. The others looked at the young woman.

"What's the plan?" Suki asked with a smile, trying to be optimistic.

"Well, since Zuko's a weakling and Sokka busted his arm, we're going to do this my way. The _right_ way."

"I don't care what way we do it! Speed it up!" Katara growled, growing irritable from all the exertion.

"Okay! I'm going to need you all to back up as far as you can without popping the bubble." Toph waited, nobody moved. "I mean now! I don't hear feet shuffling!" This time all of them moved back as close to the now nonexistent wall as possible, the metal on top of them groaning.

"I don't see how this is going to help." Asami rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. Toph ignored the smart mouth little girl and took an earthbending pose.

"Crouch down as low as you can. Katara, I want you to let go of the water on my order and get as low as you can. Got it."

"You'll kill us!" Bolin screamed. Toph just laughed.

"Katara, now!" The earthbender yelled. Katara dropped her water, showering the group in it as she dropped as low to the floor as possible. The metal that the water dome had been supporting started to fall forward towards the group. Opal and Asami shrieked in fear, terrified for their lives.

"Will you two stop screeching?!" Toph shouted as she caught the metal and manipulated it to the side in one fluid movement. The two girls looked confused, but Bolin jumped up amazed by what he'd just witnessed.

"You just metalbended! You've gotta teach me that!" The young earthbender gushed to the older, more experienced one. Toph chuckled.

"Sure, kid. But not know, we've got a situation… Sokka's hurt." When Suki heard the words she raced over to her husband.

"Sokka!" She screamed, taking his face in her hands gently. "Sokka, what happened?" The fierce, fearless warrior always went soft when it came to her man. Sokka smiled through his pain and gestured to his arm.

"It's broken. Zuko…" Sokka paused and turned to look at the firebender. "...who is a terrible doctor by the way… so astutely pointed it out by _poking_ it."

"Hey! I could've left you trapped under that cabinet." Zuko teased taking Sokka's jab with a grain of salt. Katara walked over to her brother then.

"Oh Sokka." She sighed, taking the man's arm in her water covered hands gently. Sokka tensed up at first, but after a few minutes he started to relax.

"Thank you…" He whispered to her as she made a makeshift sling for him out of her sweater. Once Katara was finished with him, Sokka went to stand by Suki, wrapping his good arm around her waist.

"Okay… next order of business, we need to get off this ship." Zuko told the group, there was no question about this. "I noticed the gangway was blocked while I was coming to find you all, we'll need to find another way out."

"Couldn't Toph just metalbend us out?" Bolin asked. The older earthbender grinned.

"I like him! He know's how to make a plan." Toph stepped forward and forced the metal siding to part. Because the entire nose of the airship was buried in earth, the exit Toph made was at ground level.

"Awesome!" Opal sang, jumping over the threshold. "Solid ground!" She smiled, twirling around. Her fun didn't last long though, out of nowhere she was pulled out of view by a strong metal rope.

"Opal!" Bolin was the first one to get off the airship, the others quickly following. As soon as they were all out, an airship moved in overhead and almost thirty men descended on similar metal ropes, surrounding them. One man, dressed the same as all the others, in his all black uniform, including a mask that showed only his eyes flipped down from his line and landed on the destroyed airship Team Avatars had just stepped out of.

"Bring her forth!" The man ordered. Quickly a group of four men stepped out from behind a pillar of rocks, one of them held dual swords to Opal's neck.

"Opal!" Bolin shrieked hoarsely, running to her. One of the four men standing beside the girl flipped into action releasing a flurry of quick jabs that sent Bolin to the ground. Shakily the little boy stood, trying to bend the men away from Opal. Nothing happened. "I can't bend!" He cried.

"You chi blocked my brother?!" Mako ran towards the men, wielding his fire, he meet the same fate as his brother.

"The next person who moves earns the death of the tiny girl!" The figure on top of the airship yelled.

"Just give her back to us!" Asami begged, terrified to see her friend in such a dangerous predicament. The man scoffed at her before looking to the older members of the group.

"There's no use fighting me! I have you all surrounded and your airship is buried in the earth. Tell me what I want to know and no harm will come to the girl."

"What do you want?" Toph sneered in the direction the enemy's voice was coming from.

"Where have you already looked for the Avatars? I know you've been looking at the Air Temples… which ones have you searched?"

"Like we'd tell you!" Katara shouted up to him. Zuko frowned and pushed her behind him.

"We cannot give you that information." The Fire Lord called, watching the man clench his teeth.

"Very well." He looked to the man holding the swords and gave a small nod. The swordsman pressed the sharp metal into Opal's neck just enough to let a stream of blood appear.

"Ow!" Opal cried out, fearful tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Last chance!" The man on top of the ship called. Zuko glared up at him, testing his limits. The man turned his head in the direction of Opal once again and Bolin lost it.

"We've been to the Southern and Western Air Temples! They aren't there! We're heading to the Northern Temple now! Please let her go!" The tiny earthbender had tears streaming down his face. The man laughed out loud, a menacing, dark sound.

"Release the girl and get back to the ship!" The man ordered, a sense of superiority ringing out as he spoke. The swordsman dropped Opal and the group of four disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

"Opal!" Bolin rushed over to the girl and cradled her against his chest. "Opal…" He cried, rocking her in his arms. The tiny girl wrapped her arms around her best friend and let her tears flow freely.

"You saved me!" She sobbed. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." The girl shook against Bolin as he held her. The rest of the group looked on at them, stunned by the turn of events.

"I can't believe you!" Mako fumed, punching fire at the air. "You may have saved Opal but you just condemned Korra to whatever those freaks are going to do to her." The group all looked at Mako. "Uh… Korra and Aang." He corrected himself.

"Mako…" Zuko walked over to the younger firebender and put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't give up hope just yet, we're going to find Korra and Aang before it's too late." The words didn't seem to help much.

"How?" Asami asked, adding fuel to Mako's anger. "The airship is all but destroyed and two of us are hurt."

"Spirits! If Korra gets hurt I'm going to freak out!" Mako screamed, not bothering to include Aang this time.

"You're already freaking out." Asami rolled her eyes, then turned her attention to the more productive firebender beside Mako. "Fire Lord Zuko, what do you propose we do to fix this mess?"

"Well, we can have the airship back up and running within a few hours if Toph helps us out with some bending."

"That's a lot of work for me to do alone." Toph sighed. "I'd have to metalbend the ship back together and clear it out of the earth."

"I'll help you." Bolin decided, feeling bad because he'd just caused a major setback and disclosed the information that gave someone else an edge in the race to find the Avatars.

"Well then lets get going." Toph told him, heading over to the front of the ship. Once they left Zuko looked to Katara.

"Heal Opal's cuts please." He waited for her to nod in agreement and take Opal inside before looking at Asami and Suki. "You two, in the cockpit, we have a few technical problems that I know you'll be able to help with." The girls nodded and entered the airship. "Sokka, talk to Mako… I know you have some stories to share about girls."

"Sure Zuko." Sokka walked over to the angry little firebender, putting his arm around him as he walked him to a more private location on the airship. Zuko looked around, taking in his surroundings, he knew that the pressure was on to find the Avatars. While the other's worked on their assigned tasks, Zuko went inside to start his own project of straightening up the room Sokka and Toph had been in that morning. As soon as the room was back in order he laid out maps and charts and got to work creating a new game plan to help them find Aang and Korra before someone else did.


	17. The Light Chakra

**A/N: Back to the chakras again! Once you finish reading this chapter we'll be ready for the much anticipated seventh chakra!**

* * *

"So Korra, I was thinking…" Aang started, but Korra cut him off with a giggle.

"You were thinking? That's never good." She teased, Aang couldn't help but laugh.

"I never knew how much I would love having a little sister to annoy me." Aang shook his head, a wide smile spread across his face.

"So what were you thinking?" Korra prompted, running her fingers through Appa's fur as she lounged against him.

"I was thinking that because you did so well with the Sound chakra, we should just go right into the Light chakra without a break. What do you think?" Aang genuinely wanted his sister's opinion, he didn't want to push her too hard.

"Sounds good to me." Korra shrugged, she didn't really seem to care either way.

"Okay, come on then." The older Avatar led the younger one on a hike up the mountain, taking her to a rising stair quite a way up in the mountain.

"Wow… look at all the mountains." Korra commented when she finally sat down and looked out at the peaks below them.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Aang asked, settling down by her side. Korra nodded.

"It is." She whispered, looking a little longer before she turned to Aang. "So you said this is the Light Chakra?"

"Yes, the Light chakra is located in the forehead. This one deals with insight and is ruled by illusion." Aang taught her. "Most Avatars actually have similar illusions to push through in order to unlock this chakra."

"Sooo…" Korra rocked back and forth. "Do you think you could enlighten me as to what those past Avatars have come to terms with?" This made Aang laugh.

"Nice try!" Aang chuckled to himself. "You know you're supposed to do this yourself." This response prompted a dramatic sigh from the young Avatar.

"Can't you make an exception because I'm your sister and you love me?" Korra smiled, trying her best to look innocent and sweet. It didn't work on Aang.

"I helped you two chakra's ago. Do you recall the Air chakra?" Aang knew that Korra remembered exactly what he was talking about.

"Fine. I'll do it myself because you're lazy." Korra closed her eyes leaving Aang to ponder what she'd just said. How exactly was _he_ lazy for not telling Korra how to open _her_ own chakra?

"I'm not lazy!" Aang protested.

"Shh!" Korra sat up straighter. "Trying to meditate here."

"Oh, sorry." Aang held his hands up in surrender, rolling his eyes.

"Don't be sorry, just be quiet." The waterbender shot back smartly. Aang didn't respond, he realized she was just trying to prolong the process of meditating. After a few minutes of peaceful quiet Korra relaxed and started working on her chakra.

…

"_Aang, you're killing me here." Korra thought to herself as she searched her thoughts for illusions she could possibly share with other Avatars. _

"_Child, Avatar Aang is not trying to kill you, he is simply trying to help you reach full enlightenment." A woman's voice echoed in Korra's head._

"_Aang?" Korra asked, confused. A small laugh sounded as Korra stood and turned around in her mind. "Gah!" The waterbender stumbled back, trying to put some distance between herself and the figure before her. "Who are you?" Korra demanded, still somewhat afraid._

"_You have nothing to fear young Avatar! I am Avatar Yangchen." Korra's eyes went wide as she finally noticed the orange and yellow robes marking Yangchen as an airbender. _

"_You're an airbender…" The little girl said in amazement. "The last airbender Avatar before Aang." _

"_Yes." Yangchen smiled. "I am a part of him just as I am a part of you. You see young Korra, there really is no difference between me, or you, or even Aang." _

"_But there is a difference." Korra challenged, looking around at the empty blackness surrounding them, the only light was radiating from a bright white aura floating around Avatar Yangchen, and a more subtle blue one surrounding Korra. "We're different." Korra repeated. "You are you, I am me, and Aang is Aang." _

"_Silly girl!" Avatar Yangchen laughed. "We all come from the same Spirit do we not?" The wise woman's words caused Korra to think. _

"_I thought we were all separated… The Avatar Spirit lives and dies as the Avatars do, doesn't it?" Korra asked. Avatar Yangchen shook her head._

"_No, young Avatar, the Avatar Spirit does not live or die as the Avatars do, but instead transfers from one life to the next in the cycle._

"_Oh." Korra looked down at her boots, thinking hard about what Aang had told her about how he had died the night she was born. The Avatar Spirit hadn't waited long at all, it instantly started to transferred to him to her, until the process was severed by Katara bringing Aang back from death._

"_I think I understand... " Korra said, looking up to confirm her revelation with Avatar Yangchen. To Korra's surprise, the kind woman was gone. "Hello?" Korra looked around, again being startled when she found herself face to face with another glowy figure. _

"_Hello Avatar Korra." The man smiled at her fondly, his blue light shimmering slightly as he bowed. "May I say it is such a pleasure to meet the newest Avatar from the Water Tribe. My name is Kuruk." _

"_Avatar Kuruk." Korra smiled, bowing to him. She had heard the legends of how Koh had stolen his wife's face. "It is so nice to meet another waterbending Avatar!" _

"_Are all the Avatars not waterbenders?" Kuruk asked Korra with a grin. Korra thought about that. _

"_Aang's not a waterbender, he's an airbender." The young girl countered, still in awe of meeting the Avatar who shared her native element. Avatar Kuruk shook his head. _

"_Aang is a waterbender just as you are an airbender. You see Avatar Korra, the separation of the elements within you is merely a trick of the mind." Korra frowned slightly. _

"_But we were born as waterbenders…" The girl looked up at the Avatar standing before her, hoping for an explanation. _

"_That's not true. Avatar Yangchen explained to you that the Avatar Spirit transfers from Avatar to Avatar right? Well, that means that when you are born, you are born with that Spirit inside of you."_

"_So I _wasn't_ born a waterbender?" Korra wasn't following what the man was trying to teach her. Kuruk chuckled slightly. _

"_Think of it this way. You don't have one arm for waterbending and one for airbending, and I'm quite positive you don't bend fire or earth with just one foot. What I'm trying to tell you is that the difference between the four elements doesn't exist inside you." _

"_Oh! So the elements are just like one big ball of energy balancing inside of me?" Korra asked. Avatar Kuruk smiled, starting to fade a bit._

"_You will do great things with your life Avatar Korra."_

"_Great things indeed." A woman's voice repeated behind Korra. When the young Avatar turned around to see a woman surrounded in green light, she wasn't afraid. _

"_Avatar Kyoshi." Korra smiled, bowing respectfully. The earth Avatar returned the gesture. _

"_Young Korra, I sense greatness within you. As the Avatar you share this trait with Aang, Roku, myself, Kuruk, Yangchen, and all the incarnations of our Spirit before them." _

"_The Avatar is the most powerful bender in the world." Korra smiled, knowing just how much power the Avatar standing in front of her held. _

"_Yes, Korra that is true." Kyoshi nodded. "Or it was. Tell me young one, who holds more power? You or Aang?" The woman tilted her head to the side, curious as to how Korra would answer. _

"_Definitely Aang!" Korra sighed. "He's amazing! He's so talented, and the way he handles the elements shows how much power he truly has."_

"_You are wrong Korra." Kyoshi shook her head. "The Avatar… or rather the two Avatars… are the most powerful benders in the world." _

"_So you are saying Aang and I are both equal?" The young girl asked, hoping she was right so she wouldn't disappoint her wiser past life. Avatar Kyoshi nodded. _

"_Yes, Korra. You and Aang are two halves that make up a whole. A pair. One brings the other strength where they are weak and the act is reciprocated in turn." Avatar Kyoshi beamed with pride when Korra nodded in agreement. _

"_Aang and I are like the Spirits Tui and La. We bring balance to each other." Korra smiled widely when she saw Avatar Kyoshi's smile of approval. _

"_Together you and Aang are the most powerful force the world has ever come to know!" _

"_With great power comes great responsibility." Another man's voice sounded from over her shoulder._

"_Avatar Roku." Korra guessed judging by the Fire Nation robes and slightly red-orange tint surrounding the man. Korra bowed to him before turning to notice Avatar Kyoshi had vanished. _

"_You must not let what Avatar Kyoshi said go to your head. While it is true that you and Aang hold an unbelievable amount of power, you are not invincible." _

"_I know, Avatar Roku." Korra looked remorseful. "We learned about what happened to you in school." A small smile formed on the aged Avatar's face._

"_That is in the past, young one. You must take the mistakes of the Avatars before you and learn from them."_

"_But, Roku, how do I do that?" Korra asked. "I know that I will have Aang to help me, but how will make sure I don't do something wrong when he's not there?"_

"_Young Korra…" Roku chuckled softly. "... you and Aang are more closely connected than any of the past Avatars before because of how the Avatar Spirit lives in both of you. Even when Aang is not with you physically you will feel him. He will always be with you." _

"_That's why Kyoshi said I was powerful wasn't it?" Korra smiled at the thought._

"_Korra." Roku's voice turned serious. "I warn you to find balance within yourself. With great power comes great responsibility, but also great danger." _

"_Danger." Korra repeated, matching his level of seriousness. "Aang and I need to work together and learn the limits of safely using our power."_

"_Yes, you must learn your limits and practice restraint at all times. The Avatar Spirit has the potential to be both good and evil." Avatar Roku warned. Korra nodded, understanding completely. _

"_It's a balance that Aang and I will maintain together." Korra answered, watching as Avatar Roku faded away and her own blue light faded. _

…

Slowly, Korra opened her eyes and looked at Aang sitting across from her. The older Avatar noticed a new sense of maturity behind Korra's eyes.

"How did it go?" Aang asked. "You took a long time to open that one." Korra noticed the sun was already setting and the blue sky had started turning bright shades of pinks, oranges, and purples.

"It went really well." The young Avatar smiled. "I got to talk to Avatar Yangchen, Avatar Kuruk, Avatar Kyoshi, and Avatar Roku. They helped me open my chakra." Aang seemed surprised by this news, his past lives hadn't helped him with any chakras.

"They did?" Aang raised an eyebrow. Korra smiled, laughing a little.

"They did. Our past lives are _much_ more helpful than you!" The little girl teased, poking her tongue out at her brother. Aang chuckled softly.

"Alright, fair enough." Aang got to his feet, holding his hand out to Korra. "We should head back to camp before it gets dark."

"Okay." Korra smiled, skipping along next to him. "You know, Avatar Roku told me that even when you're not physically with me, you'd still be with me."

"Oh…" Aang looked down at Korra, intrigued by this thought of him being with Korra even if he were far away. "What makes you bring that up?" Aang asked.

"I just wanted you to know that I'll always be with you too." Korra smiled up at him, taking her brother's hand in hers as they walked back down the mountain together.

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**A/N: OMG I'm so happy with the way this one came out! Let me know what you guys thought in a review!**


	18. United

**A/N: I really don't want to rush right into the seventh chakra because I tried to pace myself with the other chakras. So, with that in mind, I decided we'd check in on Team Avatars in this chapter.**

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"Zuko?" Toph and Bolin knocked on the door of mapping room that Zuko was in, not bothering for him to answer before walking in. "Bolin helped me finish digging the airship out of the ground and all the metal is put back where it belongs." Toph told the Fire Lord, Bolin noticed that nobody else was in the room other than the three of them.

"Where are the others?" He asked, finally getting Zuko to acknowledge them. The group had been working on their separate tasks straight through the day and overnight.

"I thought they were still preparing to get the airship working again…" Zuko rubbed his eyes, he'd been staring at the map for far too long.

"So, what's the plan?" Toph asked, pulling out a seat so she could sit across the table from Zuko. The Fire Lord looked over to Bolin.

"Go find the others and ask them to come down here as soon as they can." For the first time, Zuko didn't second guess giving one of Korra's friends a task to do on their own, he needed to get things done.

"Right away!" Bolin bolted out of the room, Toph waited until he was gone before she spoke.

"He's actually a really sweet kid." Toph remarked, picking at the bottom of her shirt. "He's a decent earthbender too."

"Well I'm glad he was able to help you." Zuko answered, looking down at the map once again.

"I'm starting to think those kids aren't such a problem after all." Toph frowned. "I wish I could've figured it out sooner…"

"Yeah." Zuko agreed. "Those kids remind me of our own group when we were young."

"Well, they aren't _quite_ as good, but I'll give them credit." Toph let out a loud sigh. "If only we'd thought of them like this from the beginning…" The earthbender shook her head slightly. "Aang left with Korra because of us."

"He left with Korra because he was trying to protect her from us." Zuko frowned. "He knew we would protect him from Korra by any means necessary. Aang just didn't want her to get hurt."

"We can't hurt Korra." Toph ran her hand along the top of the table, admitting she was wrong wasn't something she really enjoyed doing. "I don't mean we can't hurt her just because it hurt Aang with all that weird Avatar stuff. I mean we can't hurt her because we didn't even give her a chance before assuming she was bad."

"Korra isn't bad." A tiny voice called from the doorway. Opal walked into the room and pulled up a chair. "She's a little rough around the edges, but then again who isn't?" The youngest member of Team Avatar's asked with a laugh. The rest of the group started filtering into the room then, Bolin hurried past everyone else so he could sit between Opal and Toph. Once everyone was settled Zuko looked at the group. He noticed that there were older team members sitting next to the younger ones instead of the way it was before when the kids would sit together and the adults would stay with members of their own group. He and the rest of Aang's friends were starting to see the kids as part of their team rather than as a nuisance now that they've all had to work together as a unit, and Korra's friends seemed to be more accepting of the older group as well.

"I'm glad to see we're all getting along." Zuko smiled, looking around the table.

"Me too." Asami grinned, looking over to Suki. Both girls had grease stains on their hands and clothes, along with a few smudges on their faces. Zuko smiled back at the girl instead of reprimanding her for speaking out.

"Would you like to give me a report on what you and Suki have accomplished?" Zuko asked. Asami looked to Suki for approval, receiving an encouraging nod from her.

"Well, I worked on fixing the control panel and the steering mechanism… both were smashed up pretty bad from the crash. Suki worked on the engines, they needed to be rewired because they short circuited." Asami gave a few more logistical details before finishing up her report.

"So everything is in working order again?" Zuko asked, looking at both girls.

"Yes." Suki smiled, putting her hand on Asami's shoulder. "I couldn't have done it without Asami, she's great!" Asami beamed with pride, happy that she was able to help.

"That's excellent news." The Fire Lord, looked over to the next pair. "Toph, you said the airship is put back together?"

"That's what I said." Toph replied sarcastically. "I don't think I want to metalbend again any time soon, the airship is a lot more complex than I thought it was."

"I helped her bend the earth away from the ship!" Bolin exclaimed, like Asami, he was happy to have helped. Zuko smiled at the boy.

"Toph doesn't ask for much help, I'm glad you were there when she did need it." Zuko turned his attention to Opal and Katara, noticing now that the younger girl was wearing hair loopies. "I trust Katara fixed you up alright?"

"Oh, yes!" Opal replied, all smiles. "Katara's amazing! I barely even have a scratch now!"

"Opal was very brave." Katara commented. "One of my best patients." Zuko nodded, turning serious for a second.

"Opal, I just want you to know for the record that we wouldn't have let them really hurt you. Bolin gave in to the demands of those men to save you, but if he hadn't we all would have fought for you." Zuko looked around at the younger benders. "We would fight for any of you. You're part of our group now." All the older benders nodded in agreement.

"We're like one big family now!" Katara grinned, pulling Opal into a hug. The younger members of the group smiled excitedly, they seemed to appreciate their new status in the group.

"Exactly like a family…" Mako said softly. Everyone turned to look at him, surprised to hear him talking so calmly. After a moment, Zuko looked to Sokka, silently asking what he'd said to turn Mako's sour, angry attitude around. Sokka simply shrugged, opting to keep the conversation he'd had between himself and Mako.

"So…" Sokka asked after a few silent moments passed. "What have you figured out?"

"Well, I was trying to figure out a way to cut off that other airship. They've already been flying since yesterday morning…" Zuko looked down at the map again. "I just wish there was a way to know where those two would be hiding."

"Don't worry, Zuzu. We'll find them." Katara encouraged, gently squeezing his shoulder. Zuko smiled at her sadly before turning to the group.

"I still believe they'd be hiding at one of the Air Temples, and we know they aren't in the Southern or Western Air Temples. Whoever those men were are on their way to the Northern Air Temple right now." Zuko hung his head. "I just wish I had a clue!"

"I think I have one." Opal said, looking around the group nervously as she leaned in towards the table. "We have a fifty-fifty shot a choosing the right Air Temple." Opal pointed on the map to the two Temples. "Now, we know that those guys are heading to the North… there's no way we can catch them… they have almost two days of flying over us." The small girl looked up at Zuko, who was starting at the map intently. "We need to head to the Eastern Air Temple."

"And skip the Northern Temple?" Zuko asked, intrigued by the idea. Opal nodded.

"Yes." The girl slid the piece representing their position across to the other side of the map. "We need to get to the Eastern Air Temple before they do. If we go fast, we just might make it."

"Wait a second." Sokka looked over at the map. "What if Korra and Aang are at the Northern Temple?"

"Then we failed." Mako frowned, looking over to Opal. "What makes you think this is going to work? Wouldn't it just make more sense to try and cut them off in the north?"

"No." Opal smiled a little bit. "I'm fairly confident that they won't be in the north. They are going to be at the Eastern Air Temple."

"Then why did we waste all that time searching the other Temples?" Mako asked calmly. Opal nodded, she'd anticipated this question.

"Well, before the crash happened I'd been looking around in a room full of scrolls and books…" The young girl paused and looked at Zuko sheepishly. "Sorry for snooping."

"It's quite alright." The Fire Lord told her, prompting her to finish.

"I found a scroll on Airbenders!" The thought of it made her smile. "It said that the most spiritual of the four is the Eastern Air Temple. I figured that since Aang is natively an Air Nomad he might bring her there."

"Guru Pathik!" Sokka yelled, jumping up. "Do you guys remember back before Zuko was in our group, just before the fight that killed Aang?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Zuko asked sourly, he hated when the topic was brought up. Katara placed her hand over Zuko's, silently supporting him.

"Aang said he was going to the Eastern Air Temple to work on Avatar stuff with some Guru!" Sokka practically screamed with excitement.

"Then maybe that's where he took Korra!" Toph yelled, just as excited. "Aang said he was going to help her with Avatar stuff after he talked to Tonraq and Senna… before this whole mess started."

"That's where they are!" Sokka grinned. "I just know..." Opal, Toph, and Sokka all seemed to be in agreement, simply waiting for Zuko to get on board. The Fire Lord thought for another minute before looking up, sheer determination in his eyes.

"The Eastern Air Temple is on the complete opposite side of the world, we need to hurry if we're going to have any chance of getting there before the people who attacked us. Once they figure out Korra and Aang aren't in the north it's going to be a race against time to see who gets to the Eastern Temple first."


	19. The Calm Before The Storm

**A/N: Okay, so because I like to keep you all in suspense this chapter is going to be a short fun break for Aang and Korra… I promise the next will be the seventh chakra.**

* * *

"So when are we going to work on my last chakra?" Korra wondered out loud. "It's been three days since I opened my Light chakra." Aang sighed, he was running out of ideas of things he could distract Korra with. The older Avatar knew that the younger one had realized her love for Mako as she opened her chakras, he was dreading having to tell her what the seventh chakra would make her do.

"Uh… maybe tomorrow." Aang told her. Korra rolled her eyes, dramatically falling back into the grass beside Appa.

"You said that yesterday! We've been gone for two weeks." The small girl sighed, Aang could tell that she was bored. He'd helped her improve on her airbending over the past few days, teaching her how to move the air and create currents. There was only so much training the girl could take though.

"Hmm… I know! How about I teach you how to glide?" Aang asked, climbing up into his bison's saddle to get the two gliders. Korra propped herself up on her elbows, intrigued by the idea.

"You really mean it?" She asked. Aang nodded, handing Korra her staff. The young girl twirled it open on her own and Aang showed her the positions she would need to use if she didn't want to fall out of the sky. After a few hours of practicing on land, Aang decided Korra was good enough to take to the air.

"Do you think you're ready to try gliding for real?" Aang asked, watching as his little sister perked up.

"Yes!" Korra squealed. "I'm ready! Can we go now?!"

"Yes, but I want you to be very careful. Nothing too fancy." Aang told her, helping the girl up onto Appa's head. Korra laid her staff down in the saddle and picked up Appa's reigns, pretending to fly him as she waited for Aang to get ready. The airbender smiled and climbed into the saddle instead of taking his usual spot on Appa's head. Korra looked back at Aang with a confused look on her face.

"What are you doing back there?" She wondered. Aang smiled, gesturing to the reins in her hand.

"Waiting for us to take off. What are you doing?" Aang watched Korra's face light up as she realized he was serious about letting her fly his bison. "Go ahead." Aang encouraged. Korra grinned and gave Appa's head a few pats.

"Okay, Appa, fly!" Korra called, waiting a few seconds before pulling on the reins. Aang chuckled softly, laying back in the saddle. "Aang, he won't go." Korra whined. Aang shook his head.

"He will, just think about it." The older Avatar smiled. Korra rolled her eyes and thought back to all the times she'd flown with Aang. Every time they'd taken off Aang would say something to Appa to make him go…

"Yip Yip?" Korra guessed, earning a rumble out of the bison. "Yip Yip!" Korra shouted a second time, more confident this time. Appa rumbled again, lurching into the sky at a speed so fast it knocked Aang over in the saddle. "I did it!" Korra giggled, turning to look at Aang. The older Avatar righted himself in the saddle and looked over the side of the sky bison.

"You are!" Aang grinned, proud of Korra, she'd come such a long way from the first time she'd flown with him.

"This is amazing!" Korra giggled, pulling on the reins to get Appa to go in different directions. Aang let Korra play around for a little while before deciding they were high enough.

"Okay, this is a good spot. Are you ready to glide?" Aang asked, twirling his staff open and handing Korra's back to her. The young Avatar spun her glider open and nodded.

"I'm ready!" Korra was all smiles as she looked over the edge of the saddle. Aang smiled and crouched over to pat Appa.

"See you on the ground buddy." Aang told the bison and went over to Korra. "On three okay?"

"On three!" Korra agreed, carefully stepping up onto the saddle. Aang easily perched himself next to her.

"One." He counted.

"Two." Korra giggled after him, bouncing with excitement.

"Three!" The two yelled together, jumping off of Appa and into the air. Aang situated himself on the glider, noticing that Korra mirrored his position perfectly.

"You're doing great!" Aang called over to the girl, smiling as she screamed in delight, getting the hang of it quickly.

"This is so much fun!" Korra laughed executing a perfect loop. Aang grinned, copying her move, then adding a spin. Korra replicated it, making a game out of the fancy gliding. The pair spun, looped, twirled, and fell together in the sky for hours before they decided to head back to the ground for lunch. Aang demonstrated how to land, carefully lowering himself to the ground. Korra tried to match his landing but came in a little too fast and crashed into him.

"Are you alright?" Aang asked through laughter, Korra nodded laughing uncontrollably as she laid there on top of her brother for a few minutes before rolling off of him.

"That was amazing! Thanks for teaching me." Korra said, getting bowls out so Aang could make their banana juice mixed with onions for lunch. Aang smiled, messing Korra's hair up a bit.

"You're welcome. I'm happy to finally have an airbender to teach some moves to!"

"Well, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Korra asked, taking her lunch when Aang handed it to her. The airbender shrugged.

"I don't know, whatever you want." He said, looking to his little sister.

"Hmm…" Korra thought for a moment before deciding on what she wanted to do. "Let's go play in the river! It'll be great!"

"Sounds like fun." Aang agreed, finishing his lunch. Korra nodded.

"It is!" Korra smiled, trying to talk her idea up. "I used to go to the beach and swim with my friends all the time." Korra told him, her eyes looking the slightest bit sad. Aang knew he would have to get her to open her seventh chakra soon so she could get back to the group of people she loved so much.

"Okay, let's go play in the river then." Aang said, taking her bowl from her. Together the brother and sister walked to the river. Korra left her boots and her sweater at the base of a tree before taking a running leap into the cool water. Aang sat by the tree thinking about how upset Korra was going to be about opening the final chakra.

"Hey!" Korra yelled, sending a stream of water towards Aang. "Come on!" She shouted, giggling as she dove underwater. Aang sighed and took his shirt off and left it hanging on a tree branch, then placed his shoes beside Korra's. When he got to the water's edge Korra popped up from underwater and sprayed him in the face.

"Korra!" Aang complained, the water was a little chilly. The girl just laughed and sent water splashing up at him again. "Oh that's it!" Aang picked Korra up and waded in deeper, throwing her into the water a few feet away from him. Korra came up giggling wildly.

"That was fun!" She squealed, splashing at Aang again. Aang pulled her closer to him so he could through her again, this time he used his airbending to help her get a little higher. Korra came up from the water in a swirling water spout. "Water fight!" She yelled, splashing her brother with little balls of water as he stood watching her. Aang was amazed at how much better Korra's bending was now that she'd unlocked her Water chakra, it was the same thing that had happened with her airbending. Aang knew Korra would be just as powerful as he was once she mastered the elements. Regardless, Aang couldn't let her win this water fight.

"You want a water fight? You got one!" Aang gathered the water up into the octopus move, using all eight arms to send streams of water towards his sister. Korra stopped her water spout and let herself fall into the water.

"I'm a waterbender! You're never going to win!" Korra taunted when she popped back up, crystallizing a disc of water to stand on, maneuvering it around so she could get hits in on Aang.

"That's some awfully big talk for such a small girl!" Aang told her, freezing the disc in place, sending Korra flying into the water. Aang looked around, waiting for her to come back up. Almost a full minute passed before he started getting worried. "Korra?" Aang called, looking all around. "Korra?!" He called again. Suddenly, Korra came up not even a foot away from him, and without bending, splashed water in his face.

"Ha ha! You got scared didn't you?" Korra teased. "That's what you get for freezing _my_ ice!"

"What?" Aang was confused. "But how did you…" He rubbed the back of his head. "You were…"

"I made a bubble so I could breathe Aang. I'm twelve, not stupid." This answer made Aang laugh, he'd been more worried about Korra than bending moves she was potentially using to trick him.

"No, you're definitely not stupid." The airbender agreed. Korra smiled.

"Okay, I'm about to show you a waterbending trick so advanced, that even you don't know how to do it okay?" Korra looked at Aang, keeping a perfectly straight face as she motioned for him to come closer. Aang knew perfectly well that he was going to get splashed, but decided to humor her.

"What is it?" Aang asked, sort've intrigued.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Korra laughed. "I'm going to win the water fight right now…"

"Teach me the move already Sifu Korra." Aang chuckled, seeing a little bit of himself in the girl. Korra beamed with pride.

"That's right, _Sifu _Korra." Korra got her feet settled in a solid position and dramatically reached her hand up, flicking the excess water off in Aang's face. Aang feigned defeat, clutching at his chest as he let himself fall back into the water. Korra laughed and jumped into the water again, swimming and playing around with Aang until it got too dark. When that happened they made a small fire by the riverbank.

"Today was a lot of fun." Aang commented, watching as Korra stared deeply at the flames in front of her, he had the sneaking suspicion that she was thinking of Mako.

"Yeah." Korra agreed, forcing herself to look away from the flames and back up at Aang.

"What are you thinking about?" Aang asked, trying to sound casual about it. Korra smiled and let out a soft sigh.

"I'm thinking about Mako. I can't wait to see him after I finish opening my last chakra tomorrow!" Aang smiled, but felt awful on the inside.

"Korra… can I tell you about the seventh chakra? That way you're prepared for tomorrow?" Aang watched as Korra shook her head.

"I don't want to know until tomorrow." Korra answered, making Aang sigh. He had never known this girl to be patient about anything and now she was telling him she didn't want to know what her final chakra was about before she was supposed to.

"Are you sure?" Aang wondered, hoping Korra would change her mind. Korra shook her head, yawning a tiny bit.

"I just want today to be a good day." Korra sighed. "I know whatever you're going to make me do tomorrow is going to be the worst experience of my life. I just don't want to think about it yet."

"Okay. I understand." Aang nodded. He really did understand, if the roles were reversed he didn't think he would want to know about what was required of the final chakra.

"Thank you." Korra said, yawning again.

"You look tired." Aang commented as Korra laid down in the grass. She looked up at him with the cutest look she could muster.

"Carry me back to camp? Please?" Aang laughed and got himself up, collecting their things and extinguishing the fire before scooping Korra up in his arms. He got them back to where they slept beside Appa in no time. He got their blankets and covered the little waterbender with her blanket before he settled down beside her.

"Goodnight Korra." Aang whispered.

"Goodnight big brother. I love you." Korra mumbled back, cuddling her blanket closer to herself.

"Love you too little sister." Aang sighed, even though the words were true. It pained him to say them out loud knowing they would only hurt his sister more tomorrow, Aang knew she needed to hear them today though.


	20. The Thought Chakra (part 1)

**A/N: We're finally here! The seventh chakra! This is definitely a milestone chapter for me, I really hope you enjoy it! Once this one's done the story can **_**really**_** start. Enjoy!**

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The late night had turned into the early morning before Aang was ready, he hadn't slept at all the night before because he was so worried about what would happen with Korra today. The older Avatar was sick with worry, knowing that even after Korra opened her last chakra that the possibility of her pulling him into the Avatar State may still be there, and this whole process would've just been a big waste of time. Aang watched the sun rise higher and higher in the sky, hoping that maybe Korra would just sleep the day away, saving her from the horrors of the seventh chakra for one more day. It was clear that that wasn't going to happen when Korra rolled over and stretched out.

"Good morning." Aang said, trying the best to sound positive. Korra saw through his charade and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"You look terrible." Korra told Aang bluntly.

"Gee thanks." Aang sighed, rolling his eyes half-heartedly. Korra wasn't going to drop the subject though.

"What's wrong?" The tiny Avatar asked. Aang just looked at her sadly, shaking his head a little bit when he thought about what she would have to face today.

"I couldn't sleep…" Aang shrugged, standing up. "Let me get some breakfast ready."

"Okay…" Korra answered suspiciously, cleaning up their campsite and putting everything away in Appa's saddle where it belonged. Neither of the Avatars spoke as they went about their morning ritual. When the two finished breakfast Aang finally spoke up.

"Are you sure you want to do this today?" He asked, trying to give her an out if she wanted it. Korra shook her head.

"I'm ready Aang. You didn't bring me here for sixteen days just so I could give up on the final chakra!" Korra was getting tired of her brother's stalling. "You're supposed to be encouraging me!" She yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Okay." Aang frowned and used his airbending to bring himself to his feet. "Come on." He said, motioning for Korra to follow him. Korra sighed, walking with him in silence for a while before she said anything.

"Aang… are you mad at me? You seem so… different... today." Korra's words made Aang freeze mid stride. The older Avatar shook his head, crouching down so he was at eye level with Korra.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just worried about how you're going to handle this chakra…" Aang's eyes held an intense sadness as he faced Korra. "I had a very hard time with my chakra and I don't want to see you have to go through the same amount of pain I went through." Korra's eyes widened a bit, slightly concerned because of what Aang had just said.

"But, you're okay now…" Korra tried to reason. Aang shook his head, laughing at how wrong the girl had this in her head.

"Korra, I died because of this chakra… you're here right now because of it." In a way Aang was trying to scare her into waiting to do this, but Korra stood up taller.

"I can do it." She told him, sheer determination burning in her eyes. Aang let out a soft sigh and motioned for her to walk with him the rest of the way to the tallest spire in the Eastern Air Temple.

"Okay, last chance to turn back. You can't stop once you start or you won't be able to use the Avatar State at all." Aang held his breath, praying for her to want to wait.

"Aang!" Korra yelled, sitting herself down into lotus position. "Sit down and tell me about the chakra!"

"You have to be one of the most impatient people I know… including Toph and Zuko." Aang took his place across from Korra, staring past her out into the open sky sadly. "The Thought chakra is the seventh and final chakra. It is located in the crown of your head."

"Sounds cool!" Korra grinned, touching the top of her head. "I think you got yourself all worried for no reason! I got this!"

"Korra, I didn't even tell you what the chakra is about yet, you don't 'got' anything." Aang replied dryly.

"Well what _is_ the chakra about?" Korra asked, leaning in so she could give Aang her full attention. The airbender took a deep breath, focusing on being a guru instead of Korra's brother right now.

"When you unlock this chakra, you will have reached full enlightenment and will be able to control your use of the Avatar State." Aang bit his lip, drawing in a deep breath before he continued. "In order to reach full enlightenment you must first clear your thought chakra."

"Obviously…" Korra rolled her eyes. "Quit stalling! Tell me what I need to do!" Korra was bouncing with excitement.

"The Thought chakra deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachments." Aang squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see Korra's face when he explained what that meant in a way she would understand. "Korra, in order to clear your Thought chakra you need to give up those you love… you need to let them go." Silence rang heavy in the air for a long, dreadful moment before Aang opened his eyes to look at Korra. The waterbender seemed stunned.

"Wh… what?" Korra stammered, her face pale. "I don't understand!" She yelled, jumping up from her place on the ground. "You're kidding!"

"Korra…" Aang shook his head sadly, strictly being a guru right now. "You need to let go of your earthly attachments in order to gain access to your pure cosmic energy."

"How can you even be saying that!?" Korra shouted. "Not even three chakras ago, love was a good thing! I didn't even know I was in love with Mako until you made me open my stupid chakras!"

"I tried to warn you. This isn't going to be easy. The Avatar isn't supposed to have earthy attachments." Aang shook his head sadly, his heart aching when he saw Korra blink away tears.

"You lied to me Aang!" Korra stomped her foot. "You lied to me and I'm mad at you! You told me you loved me because I'm your little sister! Now you're telling me you aren't even allowed to love!" The small girl buried her face in her hands, her whole body shaking as she sobbed. Aang's heart broke.

"Korra, I didn't lie… I have different circumstances." He tried delicately.

"What do you mean different circumstances?" Korra growled, moving her hands away from her face so she could glare at him. Aang sighed, he had been afraid of this.

"Sit down and I'll explain this to you." Aang waited, watching as Korra angrily arranged herself in the lotus position again. The little girl stared daggers at her brother.

"First of all, it's not like I'm telling you that you can never love again…" Aang tried, only making Korra more mad.

"Spirits Aang! Just tell me what circumstances!" Korra crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow while she waited for Aang's answer. The older Avatar took a deep breath, blowing it out before he started.

"The day I unlocked my chakra is the day you were born." Aang started. "I was in the Crystal Catacombs with Katara because I refused to let her go and ran away from my chakra. I just had a feeling that she needed me and it turned out I was right. Zuko and Azula were there too."

"Who did you say Azula was again?" Korra questioned, some of the ice in her tone had slipped away.

"Azula is Zuko's sister. She went crazy right around the time I fought the former Fire Lord, Ozai. She's actually doing much better. She lives in the palace with Zuko now, but that's a story for later."

"Ah." Korra nodded, remembering the Fire Nation's princess now.

"Anyway, during the fight with Azula and Zuko was when I finally unlocked my seventh chakra. I let go of the person I loved the most in the world to save her… it was the only way I could convince myself to do it." Aang shook his head, saddened by the memory. "And I did save her, but Azula shot me with her lightning right after I unlocked my chakra."

"That's when you died." Korra breathed, intrigued by the story. Aang flashed her a half crooked smiled.

"That's when you were born." He pointed out. Korra and Aang sat there for a few minutes thinking about that. It truly was an anomaly that the pair had broken every Avatar rule the world had come to know.

"So, I guess I don't really have a choice in this do I?" Korra sighed, straightening up a bit. Aang shook his head.

"You're the Avatar… it's not all fun and games." Aang reached out to Korra, squeezing her shoulder for support. "You can do this." He told her. Korra nodded, taking a deep breath before she closed her eyes and focused on all the people she cared about most in the world.

"I can do this." Korra repeated. The young Avatar took a few more deep breaths as images of her parents, friends, Naga, Mako, and Aang flitted through her mind. A terrifying feeling washed over her as she thought about all of the people she loved, she didn't want to give them up. Korra opened her eyes after a few moments passed by. "Aang… I can't."

…

"How long until we get to the Air Temple?" Zuko asked as he walked into the cockpit of his airship. The captain looked at a few maps and readings before turning to look at the Fire Lord.

"We should be there by nightfall sir." The captain informed Zuko, earning an annoyed look from the firebender.

"That's not good enough! There has to be something more you can do to get us there quicker!" Zuko stared into the man, a look that demanded respect and got him what he wanted.

"I'm sorry Fire Lord Zuko." The man gave Zuko a sheepish look. "I'm pushing the engines as hard as they'll go. The earliest we'll be there is by tonight."

"Spirits! Can't you do anything I ask? If we don't get to the Eastern Air Temple before that other airship does I can promise you I will find a new captain to fly this ship!" The man was stunned to silence as Zuko turned on his heel and walked back to the room his friends were in.

"What did he say?" Mako asked as soon as the older firebender returned. Zuko sighed and ran a hand through his hair before answering. "We should be there by nightfall."

"But…" Mako's face fell. "That's still a long way away."

"I know." Zuko frowned.

"You guys!" Bolin yelled from across the room.

"You guys look!" Opal screamed seconds later pointing out the window. Everyone ran over to see what the two kids were getting so worked up about.

"No!" Katara breathed, absolutely horrified with what she saw out the window.

"What? What is it?" Toph demanded. Nobody could speak as they watched the airship that had shot them out of the sky a few days prior rumble past their ship at in impossibly fast speed. "You guys!" Toph growled.

"It's the airship from the other day." Bolin squeaked out, absolutely horrified. "It's passing us!"

"It's not alone!" Opal frowned, pointing at a fast approaching fleet of airships following the first one.

"They're going to get to Korra and Aang first." Mako said in a voice so broken and defeated that it hurt to hear. The others turned to him as he started to back away from the window. Bolin reached out for him but Mako shook his head.

"Mako…" Sokka tried, but nothing anyone said or did made a difference. The young firebender ran down the hall to the back of the airship so he could be alone.

"Give him time." Zuko frowned, trying to bring the group back together. "We need to prepare for a fight."

* * *

**A/N: More of the seventh chakra to come in the next chapter.**


	21. The Thought Chakra (part 2)

**A/N: This is really long, but I didn't want to break up again and make you all wait ANOTHER week. So I apologize in advance for the length to those of you who don't like long chapters, and I also apologize if it doesn't make sense somewhere in the middle... I had a lot to work in there!**

**That being said... enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Almost an hour had passed and Korra was still struggling with her chakra. It broke Aang's heart to see the young girl in so much pain.

"Korra…" Aang drew in a deep breath, shaking the girl's shoulder. Korra looked up at him with puffy red eyes.

"Aang, I can't do it." She shook her head, fresh tears starting to fall down her cheeks. Aang pursed his lips, debating what he should do next. "Why can't I just be able to love and be able to use the Avatar State at the same time?" The pathetic looking girl asked. Her desperation made the decision for Aang and he pulled her close to his chest.

"I'm sure our past lives aren't going to be happy about this but I'm going to help you. I can't stand to see my baby sister so upset." Aang gently brushed a strand of Korra's hair out of her face. "Korra, giving up your love doesn't have to be forever." Aang told her, relief washed over him when he saw the girl relax a bit.

"What does that mean?" The tiny Avatar asked wanting to know more as she stared intently into Aang's grey eyes.

"It means that you can clear your chakra _and_ still be able to love anyone you want with all your heart." Aang smiled fondly at the memory playing in his mind. "I still loved Katara when I gave her up to gain access to the Avatar State."

"You did?" Korra asked, wiping at her eyes. Aang nodded.

"I did. You see Korra, the key to opening this chakra is to know what comes first. We aren't allowed to choose love over the duties we have as the Avatars. Once you realize that being the Avatar always comes first to any feelings you may have for someone, your chakra will stay open and you'll be able to love. I promise... I wasn't lying when I said I loved you little sister."

"So I can still love Mako if I want to?" Korra asked, a small smile spreading on her face for the first time that day.

"You can love anyone you want as long as you know they can't get in the way of you doing your job." Aang thought for a moment. "And you technically don't have to give up Naga because she's your animal guide…"

"So we're cheating?" Korra giggled, her mood brightened by that bit of good news. Aang thought about Korra's words for a moment.

"I wouldn't call it cheating so much as finding a loophole." He grinned. "All the Avatar's have found one in some way or another, I mean if you think about it Zuko is our great grandson!" Aang laughed at the bewildered look on Korra's face.

"So does that mean I can boss him around?" She joked.

"Not even _I_ can boss Zuko around!" Aang laughed. "The only person who can get him to do anything he doesn't want to is Katara, and I don't blame Zuko for giving in to her. Katara is not someone you want to make angry." The two Avatars laughed about that for a few minutes before Aang looked down at his sister. "Do you feel better now?"

"I feel a lot better now." She answered as she got herself up and settled back into lotus position. "Thank you for helping me." Korra whispered just before she closed her eyes. This time she found it a lot easier to start the process of giving up her love for the people she cared about.

…

In her mind Korra saw the faces of her parents, her friends, Aang, and Mako. She loved them all dearly but knew she'd need to let them go so she could do her job. Taking a deep breath, she focused on her mom and dad. The memory of the last time she saw her mom and dad started playing in her head.

_"Let me make myself clear." Tonraq poked his finger into Aang's chest. "You are to stay away from my daughter. You've overstayed your welcome. Now get out before I kick you out!" Tonraq shoved Aang backwards towards the door. "The Avatar is not welcome in my home!"_

_"Yes sir. I'm sorry Korra." Aang sighed sadly, he couldn't face Korra as he turned to go. Seeing how upset her brother was sent Korra over the edge. She glared up at her parents._

_"Aang wait!" Korra yelled, looking directly at her parents. "If the Avatar isn't welcome in your house then I have to go too!" She stood up, her fists shaking from a combination of fear and anger. _

'I stood up to them for Aang.' Korra thought. 'No… It wasn't just Aang… I stood up for _the Avatar_.' Korra didn't know what to do, she'd always loved her parents and knew they loved her, but she still didn't want to take that leap and let them go. Korra felt a tear roll down her cheek, she realized that by running away, she'd chosen being the Avatar over her parents by default.

"Korra, remember what I said…" Aang coached, sensing that she was on the verge of something big. He knew this was hard for her, but he didn't want to make it any worse for her than it had to be. "It's not forever if you do it right." Korra nodded, taking another deep breath as she heard Aang's voice.

"Not forever." The little girl echoed, more tears spilling down her cheeks. Korra's heart ached as she played every 'I love you' from her mom and dad over and over again in her head. Korra shook her head and forced herself to remember that she'd actually put them second to the Avatar Spirit all along by choosing not to tell them her secret. The tiny Avatar squeezed her eyes tight together and let the memories of her parents fade to black. When she didn't see their loving, happy faces anymore she covered her face in her hands, violent sobs causing her whole body to shake.

"Hey…" Aang rested his hand on Korra's knee. "You're doing great… Really, you are."

"I don't feel like I'm doing great!" Korra snapped back, glaring up at him through her tear-filled eyes. Aang nodded, holding his hands up in surrender, he knew she was only lashing out because she was hurting.

"You'll get through this. I believe in you." Aang sighed and looked past Korra into the vast horizon, not wanting to invade her privacy by watching her breakdown. There was nothing but blue skies and puffy white clouds to look at, it would make for great flying weather when Korra was ready to go home.

"I think I'm ready to go on now." Korra sniffled, wiping at her nose and eyes. Aang smiled cheerfully.

"Take your time."

…

Korra closed her eyes again, this time seeing the faces of Opal, Bolin, Mako and Asami, four of her very best friends. They were the only people who knew about her secret before this whole mess had started, and they were still the people she knew she could count on to be their for her when she got back. Sure, Opal and Asami couldn't bend, but they still taught her valuable Avatar information about airbending and hand to hand combat. Bolin and Mako, on the other hand, had taken the time to teach her everything they knew about earth and fire even when it was tough. All of her friends loved her and Korra loved them, she knew she wouldn't be where she was now if it wasn't for them.

'_Where I am now.'_ Korra thought. She was at the Eastern Air Temple… not because of her friends, but because of Aang… and not even because of Aang, because she herself had managed to get into the Spirit World and summon him. Korra was here because she was the Avatar and this was part of her destiny. She'd missed her friends the whole time she was here would give anything to be with them again. _'I'd give up anything...'_ Korra thought to herself again._ 'Anything would have to include my love for them.'_

"Just remember, Korra, the quicker you clear your chakra, the quicker we get to go home." Aang squinted over Korra's shoulder as she stayed there with her eyes closed, deep in thought. Very faintly, Aang could make out a black speck in the clear sky. He thought it may be his and Korra's friends coming for them on Zuko's airship, but it was too far away for him to be able to see any insignia or even know for sure that it was in fact an airship. "You'll see your friends soon." He told Korra, not wanting to tell her just how soon he meant so she wouldn't be under any more pressure than she already was.

"I know." Korra frowned. She didn't want to throw away everything she and her friends had, but she tried to rationalize that she needed to give them up in order to let them be happy. If she opened her chakra she could go back to them, there would be no more lying, and they wouldn't have to worry about letting her secret slip. Korra decided that giving up her friends meant protecting them… it would be selfish for her not to want what was best for them. Reluctantly, Korra pictured each of their faces and imagined herself waving goodbye to them. Opal, Bolin, and Asami looked deflated as they faded away, but Mako's image remained.

"_I love you Korra."_ She imagined the firebender telling her. In her mind Mako confessed his love to her in a grandiose manner. _"I love you Korra! I always have and always will!" _Mako proclaimed, taking Korra by the shoulders. The tiny Avatar sighed internally, things had just gotten that much harder for her.

…

"What the…" Aang frowned, during the time it was taking for Korra to open her chakra the speck, that was definitely an airship, had gotten closer. It was close enough now that Aang could see there was no Fire Nation insignia, these people were complete strangers. When he stood up and walked as close to the edge of the temple spire as he could, he noticed the airship, which was moving rather quickly towards the Air Temple, was heavily armed with people hanging from ladders and standing on the main platform with weapons. "Oh no…" Aang said as he realized the danger he and Korra were in. The airbender closed the distance between himself and Korra in seconds. "Korra!" He shook her shoulders. "Korra!" Aang frowned as he watched the first bomb being launched towards the temple. "Korra! Please!" Aang shook the girl's shoulders a little harder.

"Aang?" Korra asked, somewhat dazed from being pulled out of her meditation in the middle of dealing with her love for Mako. Aang shook his head and pulled Korra up out of lotus position. The airship was close enough that the people inside could see Korra and Aang now.

"We need to hide!" Aang screamed as another bomb came flying towards them. Aang blocked it with a shield of air. "There are more!" He screamed as he saw an entire fleet of airships approaching. Instantly he started running to the main building. Korra shuffled drunkenly after him for a few seconds before Aang realized she wasn't keeping up and ran back to her.

"Aang what's happening?" The tiny Avatar asked as Aang scooped her up and ran for cover as fast as he could. Aang didn't say a word until he was where he wanted to be. "Those people are trying to attack us! I don't know for sure but I can only assume they know about us."

"What!?" Korra's head was starting to clear again as Aang took a solid airbending stance in front of a bunch of wooden tubes. "Aang this doesn't make sense!"

"It doesn't have to. You need to open your chakra and you need to do it now!" Aang blasted a gust of wind so strong it was only attainable by the Avatar towards the tubes and the door opened. He grabbed Korra by the hand and raced inside, quickly sealing them in once again.

"Aang what are we going to do?" Korra asked, scrambling into his arms when another attack shook the entire temple, causing dust to rain down on them. Aang took a deep breath and walked Korra over to a stack of old crates, he gently pushed her down behind them.

"You need to open your chakra. Neither one of us will be able to use the State because you're in the middle clearing the Thought Chakra." Aang looked at the door nervously. "I don't know how much time we have. If it comes down to a fight we're going to need to be at our best."

"But Aang, we don't even know if we're going to be able to use the Avatar State separately after this. Not to mention…" Korra frowned and looked at the ground. "I can't give Mako up."

"Korra." Aang crouched before his little sister trying to keep all traces of his panic hidden. "I know you can do this. I need you to be the Avatar now more than ever." Aang took a second to compose himself before he spoke again. "The only way we make it out of here is if we work together. There are just too many."

"Okay." Korra looked terrified as she arranged herself in lotus position again. She couldn't focus on Mako right in that moment because her worry over Aang reminded her of how much she loved her brother too.

…

"_I'm Aang." The airbender smiled, crouching down so he was closer to Korra's height. "Who are you?" _

"_I'm Korra." _The young Avatar heard herself say as she remembered the time she met Aang in the Spirit World. It was hard to believe that it was only about a week that she'd know the airbender before he took her to the Eastern Air Temple. In such a short amount of time he'd become her mentor, one of her best friends, and her brother. She shared the Avatar Spirit with him so there was no denying they were attached, but they were also bonded. Korra thought back to all the events from the last three and a half weeks, Aang had shown her so much in that period of time. There was no way to ignore the fact that she loved her brother. _'How can I let you go?' _Korra wondered. She thought about her other chakras, specifically the Light Chakra. In her sixth chakra she'd met four of her past lives, they'd told her that she'd always be connected to them. _'Wouldn't it only make sense that if I'm connected to them, I'd be connected to Aang too?' _The young waterbender asked herself just as she felt another bomb attack the Air Temple. She was running out of time and she knew it. Korra took a deep breath, forcing herself to give up the new brother she'd grown to love in order to save them both.

"Korra!" The real Aang yelled, as the version of him in Korra's mind faded. "How we doing on that chakra?!" Korra noticed that Aang had a wall of earth blocking the door, loud bangs could be heard on the other side of it.

"Aang!" She shrieked as the bangs got louder and the wall started crumbling.

"Stay hidden and open your chakra!" Aang ordered, just as a group of masked men broke through the door and started attacking the wall. Korra was terrified but squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to focus on Mako. This time instead of just Mako, Korra saw herself too, herself and the Avatar Spirit… she was being forced to choose between the two.

"_Please don't leave me!_" _Mako begged Korra. "You're my best friend, I can't lose you this way."_

"Ahh!" Korra was pulled away from her thoughts when she heard Aang's cry. He was on the floor with about thirty masked individuals surrounding him, most of them trying to fight him.

"Aang!" Korra screeched as one person's fist connected with the side of Aang's head.

"There!" One of their attackers called, pointing a finger at Korra. The young Avatar took one last look at Aang's struggling form and the people starting to look her way and she closed her eyes, instantly being brought back to her choice between pure cosmic energy and her most cherished earthly attachment.

"_I can't live without you Korra._ _I don't want to live without you." Mako cried, the young Avatar's heart broke as he reached his hand out for her. _

"_I can live without you, but I don't want to. I don't ever want to." She called back to the firebender through tears as she grabbed the sphere of glowing energy instead of his hand, effectively clearing seventh and final chakra. _

The scene faded and Korra got a half of a second to see the people coming to ambush her before her eyes began to glow. All four elements started spinning around her in a wild storm of power as she was granted the proper use of the Avatar State for the first time.

"You did it!" Aang shouted before entering the Avatar State by his own free will. Together he and Korra managed to fight their way out of the room and through the Air Temple, they didn't come out of the State until they were ten feet away from Appa.

"APPA!" Korra screeched. "YIP YIP!" She yelled, jumping into the saddle with Aang just as the bison took to the sky.

"Come on buddy, faster!" Aang called, scrambling to get to the reins.

"They're following us!" Korra told Aang quickly as the lead airship took off after them.

"I know! I know!" Aang looked behind them and willed his bison to fly north towards Chameleon Bay, the closest landmark he could think of under this much pressure.

"AANG!" Korra screamed as she watched a giant flaming mass came hurling towards them. Both Avatars watched in horror as it slammed into the tired sky bison's side.

"APPA!" Aang screamed as the animal groaned and started descending to the ground, eventually he crash landed onto the beach.

"Surrender yourselves or feel the full wrath of my army!" A booming voice called over a loudspeaker as the airship that was responsible for hurting Appa lowered itself, more men getting ready to jump from their ladders to fight Aang and Korra.

"Aang run!" Korra picked up her staff and threw Aang his. "I promise Appa's going to be okay, but we won't be if they get to us!" Korra jumped down as the first of the men touched land. "Aang go!" Korra took off down the beach towards a thickly wooded area. Aang reluctantly jumped down from Appa's head and leaned his head against the bison's nose.

"I'll be back for you buddy. Stay safe." With a final goodbye rumble from his sky bison Aang took off up the beach in the opposite direction Korra had gone.

"Just give yourself up!" One man in a group of ten called to Aang as he entered a small village. The Avatar darted left and right, taking every corner and side street he could trying to lose the masked attackers, but nothing worked… that is until a small hand pulled him backwards into a hidden alley and the clueless men went rushing past him.

* * *

**A/N: Cliffhanger! I had to after such a long chapter. The action is just starting out now, I have no intentions of ending this any time soon so don't get worried just because Korra opened all her chakras.**

**Also… total brownie points to those of you who can find my favorite Grey's Anatomy quote… it's in this chapter.**


	22. Savior

"Korra!" Aang spun around expecting to see the tiny Avatar standing before him, but it wasn't his sister who he saw, it was a young woman, probably around the same age as him or slightly younger.

"Actually, my name is Skye." The petite girl giggled, brushing her curly brown hair over her shoulder. Aang was awestruck by her as he stared into her honey-brown eyes and now that she was face to face with him, it appeared Skye was mesmerized by his grey ones.

"I uh... You really saved me just now..." Aang stammered causing a blush to color Skye's cheeks.

"Oh... It was nothing really." Skye nervously tucked her hair behind her ear again after it fell into her face. Aang was still transfixed on her eyes just as she was on his. "Why were they chasing you anyway?" The shy girl wondered.

"It's a long story." Aang told her, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Skye thought it was cute that he was being just as shy as she was.

"Well..." Skye chewed on her lip for a moment, coming to the realization that one of them needed to be brave. "Why don't you come in for something to eat. I just made egg custard tarts actually. They're sorta my favorite..."

"Really?" Aang smiled, laughing lightly. "They're my favorite too!" This news brought a smile to the girl's face that caused Aang's heart to skip a beat.

"Well come on then. You can tell me what's going on inside. It'll probably be safer there too." The girl walked past Aang with a graceful lightness in her step as she looked left and right before stepping out of the alley and motioning for Aang to follow. The Avatar didn't hesitate to hurry down the street into what must've been Skye's house.

"My name's Aang by the way." Aang told her as he followed her through the house to the kitchen. Skye got each of them a plate with a piece of her tart and sat down across from him.

"Aang..." She blushed deeply. "That's a great name." She managed a small smile that gave the Avatar butterflies in his stomach.

"Not as great as Skye, but thanks." Aang flashed her his own crooked smile before taking a bite of his dessert. "So you wanted to know why I was being chased?"

"Well yeah... What happened?" Skye asked, leaning forward in her seat a bit, she didn't want to miss a word of what Aang was saying.

"Well, I guess I should start by telling you I'm the Avatar." Aang watched to see a change in Skye's expression, but her face remained the same.

"Go on..." She encouraged when he didn't continue right away. She didn't care whether Aang was the Avatar or not, she liked him either way. Skye thought there was something behind Aang's eyes that made him someone she wanted to put her trust in. Aang was surprised, but continued with his story.

"So this girl... my little sister, Korra, and I are both the Avatar because the Avatar Spirit split." Aang sighed and went on to explain the story to her. By the time he'd finished almost an hour had passed and they'd managed to finish all of the tart Skye had made.

"Wow." Skye sat back in her chair, trying to take in what she'd just heard once Aang finished.

"Yeah, it was bad. I should probably go look for Korra now that things seemed to have died down a bit." Aang shook his head. "She may have gained access to the Avatar State, but she's not anywhere close to being ready to fight whoever those men were." He stood up and put his plate and Skye's in the sink. "Thank you for the tart, it was the best one I've had in a long time."

"Oh… your welcome." Skye said, following Aang to the door. She didn't want to see the handsome young man leave just yet. "Aang… do you need help trying to find Korra?" The Avatar's breath caught when he heard the question, he didn't want this to be goodbye either. "I could help you find Korra pretty quickly considering I know the area."

"Oh… well that'd be great actually." The Avatar couldn't ignore the fact that Skye help would make it easier to find the missing mini Avatar.

"Perfect!" Skye clapped her hands together excitedly, she was happy to help if it meant more time with Aang.

"Come on." Aang peeked his head out the door before stepping outside and looking around. "Looks like it's all clear." Aang told her before surveying the area.

"What are you looking for?" Skye wondered, looking up at the Avatar. Aang seemed lost due to all the hasty twists and turns he'd taken trying to get away from his attackers.

"Korra ran off in the direction of the woods by the beach… that's what I'm trying to find." Aang sighed, trying to rationalize which way he should go before blindly heading in the wrong direction. Skye just shook her head and grabbed his hand.

"This way Aang." She didn't drop his hand as they walked, neither of them could ignore the electric spark they felt at the contact. Aang had only felt this way one other time… but this time, it felt so much more intense and urgent. Silently the airbender vowed he wouldn't let this girl slip away from him like he had with Katara. He knew it sounded crazy because he'd just met this girl, but she made him happy. Besides that, he'd always believed in love at first sight and it seemed like Skye did too.

"So do you have any brothers or sisters?" Aang wondered as the pair wove their way through the streets of the small town. Skye turned to give Aang a sad smile over her shoulder.

"I have an older brother. He was really protective of me... That's how I'm still here." Skye stopped walking and looked up at Aang. "My family and I were separated in a Fire Nation raid during the war almost twelve years ago. I've lived by myself in my parents house all this time hoping they'd find their way back to me."

"Skye..." Aang took both her hands in his. He felt awful hearing this. "I am so sorry that happened to you. I'm close personal friends with the new Fire Lord, Zuko. If you want me to I can ask him about locating your family."

"Oh Aang!" Skye threw her arms around his waist, her head just barely came to Aang's shoulders. "You'd really do that for me?" She looked up at him, her honey eyes shining with what Aang knew to be hope.

"Of course!" He promised, draping his arms loosely around her. "I need to find Korra first... and Zuko... but I promise I'll help you find your family." Skye seemed to glow with happiness when she heard the Avatar's promise.

"Thank you." She let go of him after a few more seconds passed and walked with him in companionable silence for the next few minutes as she brought him down to the beach.

"Korra went this way." Aang told her, pointing down the beach to the trees. Without hesitating the airbender started to run down the shoreline. Skye was about to follow him when a shiny glint in the sky caught her eye. "Aang!" The girl yelled pulling him to find cover. When Aang turned and saw what they were running from he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Skye! Wait a second!" A huge smile broke out on the Avatar's face as he watched the Fire Nation insignia on the side of the airship grow as his friend's airship started descending to the beach. "Those are my friends!" Aang offered his hand to Skye. "Come on!"

"Are you sure about this?" Skye asked as she twined her fingers with Aang's and followed him to where the airship had landed.

"Don't worry, they're going to love you." Aang watched as the gangplank was lowered to reveal his and Korra's friends standing side by side in the threshold.

"Aang!" Katara ran down the metal walkway and into her old friend's arms, hugging him tight.

"We were worried... We saw you and Korra escape the Air Temple on Appa." Zuko explained as her came to Katara's side and put his arm around her shoulders. The waterbender looked over the girl standing beside Aang and threw the Avatar a sly smile when she noticed their hands were interlocked.

"Who's your friend Lover Boy?" She teased. Aang blushed deeply, looking to the petite girl at his side.

"This is Skye. She's helping me find Korra." The Avatar started to explain. He was about to explain how she had saved him from the men trying to attack him, but he was interrupted by the younger firebender he'd learned Korra loved.

"Where _is_ Korra?" Mako demanded, looking from Skye to Aang. Aang frowned and crouched down so he was at eye level with the young boy.

"I don't know for sure... we were separated. She ran towards the woods trying to get aw-" Aang watched as Mako turned and sprinted down the beach screaming Korra's name.

"It turns out Mako has a little crush." The Fire Lord explained. Aang's eyes flashed down to Skye for an impossibly quick moment.

"He's not the only one with a crush." The airbender admitted. Skye looked up at him with a slow smile spreading on her face, she knew there was a double meaning behind those words. She was glad Aang was being the brave one now.

"No, he's not." Skye laughed lightly as Zuko and Katara stared at them wide eyed. "We mean Avatar Korra, of course."

"Yeah, it turns out the mini Avatar has a crush on Mako." Aang chuckled. "Let's go help them find each other..." Aang led Skye hand in hand down the beach, the two of them being trailed by the others.

"Korra!" Aang faintly heard Mako calling from somewhere deeper in the woods. "Korra, it's okay! Where are you!?" The young firebender was looking all over for his best friend. "Korra!" He shouted again.

"Mako?" A tiny voice finally called out, crawling out of a tiny alcove of rock. The tiny Avatar looked battered and bruised with angry looking gashes on her face and arms.

"Korra!" Mako ran over to her, standing only inches away from her. "Spirits, what happened?" The firebender looked his friend over trying to assess the damage. Though she looked like hell, Korra had a smile on her face.

"It doesn't matter right now." Korra pulled her very best friend into her arms, her smile only growing as he wrapped her up into his chest. "I missed you so much!" She squealed. For the first time in days she was happy again, she knew it'd be hard but she wanted to try balancing love and her duties for this boy.

"I missed you too." Mako sighed happy that Korra was for the most part alright. "You have _no idea _just how much I missed you." Mako said, pulling away the slightest bit so he could look her in the eyes.

"Actually... I think I have a pretty good idea." Korra admitted shyly.


	23. Love and Loss

**A/N: Going to pick up with Mako and Korra again because why not? Keep in mind that Korra and Mako are basically the cannon ages of Katara and Aang from the show.**

* * *

"Korra… I was so worried about you for the past two weeks. I mean, you're my best friend and I didn't know where you were or if you were okay." Mako shook his head, he wanted to tell Korra so much more about how he felt but he didn't want to overwhelm her especially because she looked pretty banged up.

"Mako…" Korra shook her head. "I almost drowned. I was ripped away from my parents, Naga, all my friends..." Korra took a deep breath and looked up at Mako with a seriousness in her bright blue eyes. "... you."

"Me?" Mako thought he knew what she meant but didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

"Mako, I never ever want to lose you again. It took having to give you up once to realize that I don't ever want to do it again." The young Avatar was terrified but she didn't stop talking. "I... I love you Mako. I know I'm not supposed to for whatever reason, but I do. I love you and I'm never going to let go of you again." The firebender stood there looking bewildered for a second. He heard her say the words but it took a moment for him to register what they meant, but when he did it was like magic.

"I love you too." He whispered, pulling her close. Korra took his face in her hands and stood up on her toes so she could press her lips to his. Neither one of them really knew what they were supposed to do because this was a first for both of them, but when they pulled away from each other they were all smiles. Mako chuckled softly and brushed his lips against Korra's one more time before he pulling her down to sit wrapped up in his arms for a little while.

"I'm sorry I caused so much trouble for everyone." Korra whispered to him after about ten minutes passed. Mako shook his head, disagreeing with her words.

"You wouldn't be Korra if you weren't causing trouble." The firebender looked down at the mini Avatar then, noticing her bruises and cuts again. "Do you want to tell me how you got those?"

"Oh…" Korra blushed. "I got in a little fight with some of the people chasing me." Korra looked down at her cuts. "It was the strangest thing… One minute I was fighting three against one, the next minute they were retreating. I know it wasn't because of any threat from me."

"Huh… that is strange." Mako frowned. "Maybe we should have Katara check you out just to make sure you're alright." The young boy stood, holding his hand out for Korra, she took it, not letting it go as they walked.

"Aang…" Skye called, pulling on the older Avatar's hand a bit. The airbender looked over his shoulder to see what she was looking at, once he saw his little sister he dropped everything.

"Korra!" He yelled, running over to her with Skye. Korra grinned and dropped Mako's hand, running to hug her brother. Aang picked her up, twirling her in the air. "You're okay!"

"I'm fine! Are you alright?" She asked as she was returned to the ground.

"I'm great thanks to my new friend." Aang held his hand out for Skye to hold again and Mako came to stand beside Korra again.

"Nice to meet you Korra, I'm Skye. I helped Aang escape a few of those men who were following you."

"Well thank you for helping him." Korra liked this girl already just based on the fact that she'd helped keep Aang safe. "Are you an earthbender?" Korra guessed, judging by the tan colored dress the girl was wearing.

"Actually, I don't bend at all. Most of my family members were earthbenders though." Skye smiled to Korra. "I can tell you more about that later though, it looks like you need to get cleaned up." Skye pointed to her own cheek, reminding Korra of the scratches she was wearing.

"Oh yeah." Korra sighed, not excited about having to get her cuts healed. Mako knew that Korra had never exactly been one to ask for help when she got hurt.

"It'll be okay." Mako smiled, starting to walk with Korra back to the beach. As soon as they got out of the treeline they were bombarded by their friends. Bolin, Opal, and Asami all ran to hug Korra, taking her and Mako down in the process.

"We're so happy we found you!" Opal smiled, squeezing her friend tight. Bolin held her close too.

"I never thought I'd miss you so much!" Bolin shook his head. "Next time we won't make things hard for you. We should have just gotten along with Aang's group from the beginning."

"I'm just glad we're not going to have to deal with Mako acting like a little baby anymore." Asami laughed, before pulling Korra into a quick hug. "And it's good to have you back too."

"I missed you all so much!" Korra gushed, hugging each of her friends in turn.

"Korra, I hate to break up the reunion but Katara's right there." Aang reminded her, leading her a few paces away from her four friends. Korra stopped in her tracks and spun around, running back over to her favorite firebender.

"You have to come!" She pulled him along with her, leaving the other three to laugh and guess about what had happened between their friends in the woods.

"Hey Katara, it looks like we have a little patient for you." Skye announced as she approached Katara and the Fire Lord over by the base of their airship. Katara looked Korra over quickly and smiled.

"Nothing too bad, come with me." The older waterbender led the small group onto the airship and had Korra sit down at one of the tables as she got her water ready. Korra squeezed Mako's hand tight as Katara brought the glowing liquid to the cuts on her cheek.

"Zuko…" Aang turned to look at his friend while Katara was healing his sister. "Can Skye and I talk to you in private?" The firebender looked confused as to what Aang and this girl would need to say to him that he didn't want the others to hear, but he just shrugged it off.

"Sure, we can go to the mapping room down the hall." Zuko led the way, allowing them to enter the room before he closed the door. "What did you want to talk about?" Zuko asked, noting that he saw Aang's hand covering Skye's on the table.

"I promised Skye we'd talk to you about this…" Aang looked over to Skye, silently turning the reigns over to her. Skye nodded quietly, blushing as she looked away from Zuko.

"Before I tell you, I want you to know that I don't hold any of this against you. It happened during Fire Lord Ozai's time…"

"Oh…" Zuko frowned as he watched the girl's face slowly turn bright red. She was too shy to look at him, she felt bad for bringing this up at all. "Well, what is it?" Zuko prompted gently. Aang squeezed Skye's hand to give her support.

"Twelve years ago…" Skye took a deep breath, gathering the strength to look Zuko in the eye. "When I was ten, one of the raids during the war separated me and my family. Before that happened my father had enlisted to help fight in the war, but my mom and my older brother, Kyon, were taken as prisoners during that attack. I haven't seen or heard from any of them since... I was wondering if you could help me find out what happened to them?"

"Skye…" Zuko shook his head, deeply upset at hearing yet another story of a family destroyed by his father's hand. "I am _so_ sorry for the pain my father caused you. I will do everything within my power to help you find them. What were your parent's names?"

"My mother's name is Jaida, and my dad is Ryco." Zuko wrote this information down on a piece of paper from the drawer in front of him.

"Is there anything she can do to help you find them more quickly?" Aang asked, hoping for the best.

"Actually, yes." Zuko pulled out one of the chairs from the table for Skye. "If you could describe that day to me it might help narrow down a list of people from the fleet who took your family and where they would have taken them. Can you do that?"

"Yeah…" Skye nodded, sitting down nervously. "I remember that day like it was yesterday."

…

"_Mom!" A thirteen year old boy with sandy brown hair and muddy green eyes ran into the kitchen with a mini version of Skye. "Me and Skye are going to go play at the beach okay?" _

"_Alright, Kyon." Their mom answered with a smile that crinkled the corners of her own green eyes. "Make sure you're home for dinner. Stay out of trouble."_

"_Okay mom! Love you, bye!" The young boy answered as he grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her down to the beach. The two splashed around in the waves and Kyon bended rocks into little disc shapes for them to skip. Everything was going perfect until Skye noticed a fleet of about twenty ships off in the distance. _

"_Look Kyon! The ships are back!" Skye took a few steps closer to the ships. "Maybe it's dad!" The girl was young and naive to think this way, but her brother knew better. The ships were heading towards them at an impossible speed. _

"_Skye!" Kyon's hand closed tight around his little sister's wrist as he dragged her out of the shallow water towards a rock formation the kids that lived in the town liked to play on in the summer. Kyon pushed Skye down to her knees and manipulated the rocks up behind her and on either side of her. _

"_What are you doing?" Skye asked, she wasn't nervous because she knew her brother would never hurt her but she wanted to know what was happening._

"_Those are Fire Navy ships! Look at the orange and red flags…" The siblings looked out at the sea again to see the ships were twice as close as they had been before. Kyon made a roof out of rocks. _

"_Kyon…" Skye frowned, trying to get up. Her overprotective brother just shook his head and pushed her down again. _

"_Skye, stay in there! I'm not joking!" Kyon frowned, looking at the ships again, they were dangerously close. "I'll come back for you when it's safe. I promise… I have to warn mom and the others." The young earthbender saw her open her mouth to protest. "And no you can't come. I promised dad I'd keep you safe until he comes home." _

"_Be careful!" Skye squeaked out, tears forming in her eyes as she hugged her brother tight. Kyon hugged her back, kissing the top of her head before letting her go again._

"_I will be." He told her, enclosing her in earth, leaving a hole big enough for her to crawl through with a little bit of effort if things turned bad. Skye stayed still in that cramped little safe haven, listening to the Fire Nation soldiers run onto the beach and storm into the town. When she heard people starting to scream she started to cry, her whole body shaking with fear. The only thing getting her through this raid was her brother's promise to return to her. Skye listened to her brother's words playing over and over in her mind until she heard his voice ring out clearly. He was on the beach._

"_Let us go!" Her brother begged. Skye wiggled in her little earth dome, peeking under the smooth stone through the little hole Kyon had left in case of an emergency. _

"_Are there any more of you?" The soldier demanded, shoving her brother and mother along with the other citizens of the little town towards the ships. _

"_There are no more of us!" Skye's mother, Jaida insisted. The soldiers didn't seem to listen to her words, shoving her hard up the gangplank. Jaida sadly submitted to them after they threatened to hurt Kyon, but the young boy didn't make it easy on them. He fought and struggled all the way onto the ship. Skye's last memory of her brother was of him craning his neck to steal a glance at her hideaway to make sure she was still safe._

…

"Skye." Aang shook his head sadly after his new friend finished telling her story. "I had no idea that _that_ was how you got separated from your family. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah." Skye wiped the mist that was starting to form out of her eyes. Standing up so she could walk around and look at the various maps on the walls to distract herself. "It's not your fault. It was all on Fire Lord Ozai."

"Skye, you said the flags you and your brother saw were orange and red?" Zuko asked, trying to figure this out quickly as a way to apologize to this young woman on behalf of his nation.

"Yes… they were red and orange. There was a koi-fish or maybe a sea-bird logo on them." After a moment of thinking Zuko nodded.

"Thank you Skye. I'm going to start looking through all the old war archives as soon as I possibly can. I may even have some records in the library." Zuko watched as Skye looked across the room longingly at Aang. "Actually, I'll go check that right now. If you'll excuse me…" Zuko nodded slightly at Aang before leaving the room. Once he was gone Skye walked over to Aang, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"Thank you Aang. You don't know what this means to me." Skye stood up on her toes, kissing the Avatar's cheek softly before laying her head on his chest. Aang didn't say anything, he just wrapped his arms tightly around her and rested his chin on the top of her head, he somehow knew that was what she wanted. The entire time they stood there the airbender prayed that whatever news Zuko brought for Skye was good.


	24. The Secret

That same night the members of Team Avatars, along with their newest member Skye, sat down around a small campfire to talk about their next move was going to have to be. They'd already decided they'd be spending the night on the beach, but that didn't mean they knew what they were doing when morning came.

"So what's the plan?" Sokka prompted, looking across the group's loose circle to Aang and Korra.

"I think we should go home to Republic City..." Korra offered. "I miss Naga, and I really want to see my mom and dad." An uncomfortable silence fell over the group, nobody had told Korra or Aang the reason they'd been attacked was because of Tonraq and Senna.

"I think we should stay more focused on getting your training done first..." Asami tentatively told the young Avatar. Aang frowned slightly, watching as Korra's face fell.

"I don't see why taking her back to-" Aang started, but was interrupted by Katara.

"Aang." She said pointedly, giving the airbender a look that told him he better drop it.

"What's wrong?" Korra asked, not missing the exchange. "Are my parents okay?" She asked, looking at the faces of each group member.

"Mako..." Bolin prompted, looking over to his brother. The firebender pursed his lips and nodded, standing up and offering Korra his hand.

"Let's take a walk." He told her as she stood, questions in her eyes.

"What's going on?" Aang asked, watching as Korra was pulled down the beach into the darkness of the evening.

"Senna and Tonraq told the world Korra's secret." Suki told Aang quietly, staring at the flame dancing in the fire. "There's a worldwide search going on trying to find you and her... that's most likely why you were attacked."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner!?" Aang demanded, his voice raising slightly when he realized how much danger this put his little sister in.

"Korra is already dealing with so much, we didn't want to make her training any harder." Opal answered softly.

"Didn't want to make it any harder!?" Aang shouted. "She needs to know the amount of danger she's in!" Aang threw his hands up in frustration, only to have a tiny hand come down on his shoulder.

"Aang..." Skye looked up at the airbender, the fire casting shadows on her face that made her even more beautiful. The girl's presence alone took the edge out of Aang's anger. "I know that you aren't happy with this news, but getting mad about it now isn't going to help your sister." Skye covered Aang's hand with her own. "Korra is probably going to be really upset... just like you are... but she's going to need you to be there for her. You can't do that if you're busy being upset yourself, can you?"

"You..." Aang looked down at Skye's hand, blushing as he wrapped his fingers around hers. "You're right." Aang flashed her a shy half smile. "Thanks for that." The older group looked on at this tiny display, surprised by the connection these two seemed to have even though they'd just met.

"Looks like you've been replaced." Sokka teased, looking at his sister. Katara rolled her eyes and leaned up to kiss Zuko's scar.

"There was never anything to replace..." She said, more for the jealous Fire Lord's benefit. Sokka made a face, turning his attention away from the pair.

"So are you two going out or something?" Toph asked brazenly, she could tell that Aang and Skye were both crushing on each other. The Avatar and the tiny brown-eyed girl looked at each other, both blushing furiously.

"Uh..." Aang stuttered, not knowing how to respond. Skye just shook her head and looked at the airbender, she believed in love at first sight just as much as he did and there was just something about him...

"Yeesssss?" Skye asked Aang as she answered Toph's question. The Avatar's eyes widened with surprise, but he also broke out into a huge grin when he realized what she was asking for.

"Yes." Aang answered, never taking his eyes of the perfect girl before him. His words made her smile.

"Aww! That's so sweet!" Opal smiled, clapping her hands together. "Aang and Skye!"

...

"Okay Mako, this is far enough. Why did you bring me here?" Korra and Mako had just rounded the long arc at the beach, on the opposite side of the trees from their group.

"Korra..." Mako placed his hands on her shoulders, his heart was racing as he contemplated the best way to tell her about her parents.

"Mako!" Korra's voice held a mixture of fear and anger. "What's going on!? Tell me!"

"Okay..." The firebender took a deep breath. "Your mom and dad were very angry when you left... They gave us a little bit of time to try and find you and Aang before they got anyone involved, but we were all too busy fighting to really accomplish anything." Mako frowned, his breath catching in his throat. "Your mom and dad told the world your secret. Those people who attacked you were one of the hundreds of people searching for you and Aang..."

"Wait... What?" Korra took a few steps backwards.

"Korra, I'm so sorry." Mako reached out for her, but Korra held her arms out in front of her, her eyes flashing bright blue for a moment as hot tears stung at her eyes.

"Mako... you need... to get... out of..." Korra's warning was punctuated by her eyes flickering in and out of the Avatar State until she couldn't hold it off any longer and the intense anger and sadness she felt took over. Water, earth, fire, and air flew in a massive storm around the twelve year old Avatar. It broke Mako's heart to see her like this, so instead of heeding Korra's warning to get away from her when she was like this, he walked towards her..

"Korra! Korra, please calm down! It's going to be alright!" The firebender battled the splashes of water, chunks of rocks, blasts of fire, and whipping wind until he was able to lock his fingers around her wrist and pull her close to his chest. "You're okay!" He repeated to her over and over until finally the storm around them started to settle down and Korra's eyes went back to normal as she went limp in his arms. Mako sighed in relief as he pushed a few strands of Korra's hair out of her face.

...

"What took you so long to get back?" Opal asked when Mako and Korra joined their group by the fire again.

"You've been gone almost two hours." Bolin pointed out, not noticing how tightly Korra was holding Mako's hand, or how puffy her eyes were from crying. The mini Avatar didn't say a word as she took her spot in the sand in between her brother and her boyfriend.

"You okay?" Aang asked, nudging her a bit. Korra just shook her head and leaned up against his arm.

"She's just a little upset about... some _news_..." Mako told Aang, mouthing 'Avatar State' when Korra turned away. Aang nodded, putting his arm around his little sister.

"So what's the gameplan going to be?" Sokka asked, trying to take the attention off of the upset little girl.

"I want to go home." Korra sniffled, looking up at Aang. "Please Aang. I miss Naga." The small Avatar's eyes were filled with desperation as she pleaded with Aang, he of all people should understand the relationship between the Avatar and their animal companion.

"Okay." Aang sighed, running his fingers through Korra's hair, trying to comfort her. "We're going back to Republic City." He told the group of people sitting before him. Some of them nodded in agreement, while others shook their heads saying no.

"Aang, it's too dangerous. She needs to start her training!" Toph argued, throwing her hands up in disbelief. "I pray to the Spirits I'm long gone before the next Avatar comes around, you people are impossible!"

"Toph's right, Aang." Zuko agreed, despite the glare Katara shot his way. "It's too dangerous right now."

"If Korra wants to go back home to get Naga, then we're going back home to get Naga!" Aang shook his head. "I understand why you guys have mixed feelings about this, but she's already been through enough!"

"Thanks Aang." Korra managed a small smile. Aang grinned back, happy to do something to give her some semblance of order in her now chaos-driven life.

"When do we leave?" Suki asked, she was happy to go along with whatever the group decided.

"Well, Korra and I will take Mako and Skye on Appa, you guys can follow us in Zuko's airship." Aang glanced down at Korra before looking back at the group. "We'll leave at dawn."

"Dawn it is." Sokka sighed, standing up from his spot in the sand. "We should all go get some rest before then."

"He's right." Zuko answered, helping Katara up after he was on his feet again. "You are more than welcome to spend the night on the airship with us." The Fire Lord offered when he noticed that Aang and Korra made no move to get up.

"I want to sleep out here with Appa." Korra whispered to Aang, she wasn't really in the mood to be surrounded by a large group of people, she just wanted time to think about what Mako had told her before she had to face her parents. Aang nodded, not questioning her.

"Korra and I are going to stay out here with Appa." Aang smiled, airbending himself to his feet. "Thanks though." Aang looked at Skye, still taking in the fact that she was his girlfriend now. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Aang, I'm not going anywhere." Skye took the Avatar's hand. "I don't mind spending the night on the beach with you."

"I'm not leaving either." Mako told Aang. "I spent enough time away from Korra as it is." The firebender helped Korra up, actually getting a smile out of her as he captured her hand in his. Aang grinned, happy that Korra was happy.

"Well, okay then." He looked over to Katara and Zuko, who were waiting by the airship. "Mako and Skye are going to stay with us too. Goodnight."

"Okay, goodnight!" Katara called over to them, pulling Zuko with her into the ship.

"Appa's this way." Aang smiled, leading them the short distance away to where Appa was hidden in the trees. It didn't take long for the four of them to settle into the saddle and soon they were all fast asleep, tired from the long day they'd had.

…

For the most part Korra's sleep was restless and filled with nightmares. The young Avatar dreamt that she'd gotten home only to find that her parents warm, inviting welcome was all an act. Once she walked into the house the men who'd tried attacking Aang and Korra were there waiting for her. They had somehow managed to overpower her, they were just about to finish her when Korra jolted awake, breathing hard as she sat up. It took a few moments to realize that it was all just a dream, but still it had terrified her.

"Mako?" Korra whispered, turning to see that her boyfriend wasn't laying down next to her like he had been when they'd fallen asleep. Confused, Korra turned to see that Skye wasn't there either. Panic set in as the tiny Avatar remembered her dream, and that the part where she was being tracked by these crazy men was real. "Aang!" Korra shook her brother's shoulder. "Aang wake up!"

"Korra?" Aang yawned, rolling over onto his back after a few moments. He rubbed his eyes before opening them. "What's wrong?"

"I… I don't know where Mako or Skye went!" There was a hint of hysteria in the little girl's voice that seemed to push any lingering thoughts of sleep out of Aang's mind.

"Wait… What?" Aang sat up, immediately noticing that it was more empty than it should be. Not bothering to pull his shoes back on, Aang jumped out of the saddle. "Skye?!" He took a few steps, walking around his sky bison. "Mako?!"

"What are we going to do?" Korra asked, crawling over to the edge of the saddle so she could peek down at her brother, before he could plaster on the calm look he wanted Korra to see, the girl noticed his eyes were filled with fear and worry.

"Umm…" Aang looked up at Korra, his face twisted into a look of feigned confidence. "We should go look to see if they went to the airship. Are you coming?"

"I just need to put my shoes on." Korra frowned slightly, she didn't want Aang to waste time waiting for her. "I'll catch up with you in a second, just go."

"Oh, okay." Aang shrugged, sprinting off as fast as he could to get to the airship. Korra watched him go before she reached for her shoes and pulled the first one on. "Huh?" Korra was surprised when she felt a piece of paper stuffed into the toe part of her boot. Quickly, she pulled it out and unfolded it.

_Avatar Korra, _

_If you want Mako and Skye returned safely to your group you will make sure __nobody else knows this note exists and follow my instructions carefully. You are currently at the tip of the beach in Chameleon Bay, if you follow the beach long enough you will find a river… follow it... I will be there to meet you when it is time. If I do not see you by dusk, consider your friends dead. Remember Young Avatar, this is to remain our little secret._

"Why!" Korra frowned, cursing the Spirits. Her initial thoughts hadn't been about Mako or the danger of this mission, they were about Skye. Korra drew in a deep breath as she recalled the look she'd seen on her brother's face before he knew she was looking, it didn't take a genius to realize he was afraid of losing Skye. Korra's heart broke for Aang, she remembered the story her brother had told her about losing his first love, it wasn't fair that he'd been granted a second chance at romance and the girl he'd fallen for had been taken from him. "I can't let him get hurt like that again." Korra sighed, shaking her head as she pulled her boot on, grabbed her water pouch, and opened her glider. The young Avatar peered off towards the air ship one last time to make sure nobody was looking, taking a deep breath as she propelled herself high above the clouds. "I'm sorry Aang." She whispered, shaking her head softly. "You'll thank me later."

* * *

**A/N: Just in case you guys were wondering, I am looking at a map of the ATLA universe, I'm not just making these landmarks up. If you want to see it let me know.**

**Anyways, let me know what you thought! I love reading your reviews!**


	25. Emptiness

"This is the worst!" Mako sighed, pulling on the metal bars of the door that was keeping him and Skye from getting back to their friends. The two of them had been trapped there overnight and well into the current day. They didn't really know much about how they got there, they remembered falling asleep in Appa's saddle and waking up in some sort of prison.

"Don't worry Mako, I'm sure Aang is on his way here to rescue us right now!" Though the sweet girl was in what seemed to be a hopeless predicament she was still holding onto the little spark of hope within her that told her Aang would make sure she was alright.

"Or Korra is." Mako sighed. "I really hope she isn't stupid enough to try and save us herself. These people won't hesitate to really hurt her." Skye moved to sit down beside Mako.

"She wouldn't be stupid for doing that, she'd be just like Aang... selfless, brave, and strong." Skye smiled thinking of her Avatar, she had never met anyone as perfect as him before. She laughed lightly realizing this must be how the young boy felt about the little Avatar. "You must really care about her…" She sighed. Mako sighed too.

"I just love her too much to be the reason she could potentially get hurt. These equalists are up to something. I don't know what, but taking us here to trap Aang or Korra is pretty sketchy."

"True. I don't think Aang would let Korra get hurt though and it's the same the other way around." Skye was about to continue talking when one of the guards came up to their door, unlocking it.

"Let's go!" He ordered, waiting for them to get out of their cell.

"Where are you taking us?!" Skye demanded, always keeping herself between the guard and Mako, that way the young boy wasn't in any immediate danger.

"We're taking you back to your friends." The guard sneered, chaining Skye and Mako together by handcuffing their wrists together. The evil man got Skye and Mako all the way to one of the airships before they heard Korra's screams.

"Korra!" Mako screamed, lunging for the door. Skye didn't hesitate to follow with him, but before they could make it outside the door was sealed shut. The pair watched in horror as Korra tried defending herself. There wasn't anything they could do to help her as the ship took off.

...

"Come on Avatar Korra! We thought you'd make this more of a challenge for us!" A few of the men sneered throwing earth, water, and fire at her, after they'd had their fun they chi blocked the small girl. Korra wasn't experienced enough to be able to fight all of them alone without her bending, she was beaten up until she was broken down. That's when a masked figure stepped out from the shadows.

"Hello Avatar." The figure was tall and slender, arms folded neatly behind them. Korra was too out of breath to move as the person got closer, leaning inches away from her face. "Pathetic girl! How stupid could you have been coming here?"

"You said you'd hurt Skye and Mako if didn't come!" Korra reminded the mysterious person, trying to pick herself up. Behind the mask a hideous cackle sounded and the figure raised their arm. "Guards! Take her to the holding chamber!"

"The holding what?!" Korra shrieked as two men took her by the arms, dragging her to a dark room deep within the building they were hiding out in. Her wrists and ankles were attached to thick chains that she couldn't break no matter how she pulled and tugged at them. It was hours later before she had company again. The masked figure walked into the room, pushing a little metal cart in front of them.

"Let's have a little chat." The figure said, taking off the mask to reveal that it was in fact a woman behind all of this.

"Who are you?" Korra asked, trying to figure out what was going on her. The woman shook her head, disgusted by the little Avatar.

"My name is Kuaza and I am the person who is going to return balance to the world!" The woman's eyes twinkled with the pleasure of being so powerful when Korra started tugging at her restraints again. "Relax. I'll let you go just as soon as we take of one little thing."

"What thing?" Korra asked, the feeling of terror rising up in her chest. Kuaza let out half a laugh, lifting the cover of the cart she'd brought in with her revealing a syringe filled with a dark amber substance.

"There can only be one Avatar in order for the world to be balance." Kuaza shrugged. "Don't take it personal that I chose to take your bending away, it was simply because I assumed you would be easier to capture and restrain than Aang." Kuaza picked up the needle, flicking it. "Turns out I was right."

"No! Please!" Korra struggled with all her might, when that didn't work she tried triggering the Avatar State, but she was still chi blocked. Kuaza just shook her head and walked around so she was behind Korra. "Aang!" Korra screeched though she knew he wasn't there. She tensed up as her shirt was torn to expose her back. "Someone help!"

"The more you struggle, the more it hurts!" Kuaza told her, stabbing the needle into Korra's back, letting the concentrated amounts of the chi blocking poison flow into Korra's chi path. The tiny Avatar screamed out in pain, the liquid burned inside of her, she could already feel herself being ripped away from the Avatar Spirit. "There! All done." Kuaza exclaimed coming around to face the front of Korra.

"What did you do to me!" Korra cried, clenching her fists against the pain. Kuaza laughed and unlocked the shackles that were now holding Korra upright.

"I took your bending." The evil woman explained. Korra gasped in horror, trying to perform the simplest of bending tricks when she realized she didn't even feel the blocked pressure she had when she'd tried to bend before she fell to her knees.

"I thought only an Avatar could take away a person's bending." Korra cried, trying to hang on to hope. Kuaza laughed in her face.

"Oh honey, you thought wrong. Now get out of here!" As soon as the evil woman left the room the guards who had dragged her in here in the first place came to take her back out.

"Don't be too upset." One told her, feigning sympathy. "The world needs pathetic non benders like you to keep the balance."

"Aang isn't going to let you get away with this!" Korra growled as they loaded her up onto an airship. The two men laughed.

"There's nothing Aang can do! We already got away with it." The second guard laughed, pushing Korra into a seat.

…

"Aang!" Skye yelled, running up to the Avatar. The airbender was shocked to see her, but didn't have a chance to get a word in before she had her arms wrapped around her, large tears spilling down her cheeks. "Aang, I'm so sorry!"

"Skye…" The Avatar wrapped her up in his arms, holding her for a little while so she could calm down. It was a long time before he saw her beautiful honey-brown eyes peer up at him, they were rimmed red with tears.

"What happened?" He asked gently, rubbing her arms softly. "Are you alright?" Skye nodded.

"I'm fine." She sniffled, fresh tears starting to fall. "Korra traded herself to get me and Mako back!" Once the words were out the girl turned into a puddle of tears. "Oh, this is all my fault! Aang, I'm so sorry!" She kept repeating, the image of Korra being beaten kept playing over and over in her mind. Aang didn't know what to say. He was beyond thrilled that Skye was back, but he felt a huge void in his heart where his sister should be.

"Skye, it's okay. I'm not mad at you, this isn't your fault." Aang hugged her close to him. "We're going to find her and everything's going to be okay." Skye let Aang hold her for a little while before she pulled away.

"The… the little firebender… Mako." Skye shook her head. "He's beside himself. The others are trying to talk to him, but nothing they're saying is doing anything to help. Aang, he loves that girl more than life itself. He would do anything to protect her." A deep blush colored her cheeks. "He loves her like I love you. You make me feel safe. You fill a part of me that felt empty before I met you… I know feels that emptiness now. We need to find Korra before it's too late."

"Skye." Aang couldn't help but smile, he knew exactly what Skye meant about a void being filled when she was with him. Aang felt like Skye brought love and fun and happiness back into his life. He shook his head, cupping Skye's cheek as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers just for a moment. He couldn't believe how easy it was for her to make him feel better. If she wasn't here Aang knew he'd just be miserable about his sister getting taken, but now he knew he had to fight for more than just that, Korra deserved to feel how he did when he was with Skye.

"Aang!" The girl exclaimed, shocked and very pleased by the kiss.

"I love you Skye. I promise I will not rest until I find Korra and bring her back safely."

* * *

**A/N: Really sorry if this one seemed shorter or rushed, I have to leave for camp in 20 minutes and I only had an hour to write this before I left. Review anyway please? The more reviews I get, the more inspired I am to post more chapters faster.**


	26. Broken Connections

Aang's words had held all the best intentions, he'd meant to go off and search the world for his little sister right that instant… but it didn't happen. Instead the Korra had been dropped off by the airship in the woods a little ways away from their camp, she'd been hiking through the dense tangle of trees and vines for a couple of hours before she emerged in the spot Aang was talking to Skye.

"Korra!" Aang ran to her, trying to hug her but the small girl sidestepped him and pushed him away. Visibly she was pretty banged up, but inside she was even worse, if her bending was coming back it would have by now. She shook her head and tossed her glider at him.

"You can have that. Now, leave me alone." Korra snapped at him, she didn't mean to be mean, she was just hurting. "I want you to take me home." She stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at Aang and Skye who just stared at her with dumbfounded looks. "Now!"

"Okay…" Aang frowned and looked to Skye.

"Korra are you alright?" The sweet girl asked, trying not to start anything. Korra pursed her lips and drew in a deep breath.

"No more talking. No more questions. The both of you just take me back to Republic City! What part of I want to go home don't you get!?" Korra shook her head and turned away from them so she could head back to Appa. With her back to them she let a few tears slip down her cheeks, she hated to be so mean to her brother, but she didn't want to face telling him she'd let him down today. Skye and Aang walked a few paces behind her, still confused as to why this usually sweet girl was being so nasty.

"You found her!" Opal screeched as she saw the tiny group come back towards Zuko's airship. Mako perked up when he heard this and jumped up.

"Korra!" He grinned, running to her side. Korra flinched as he pulled her into his arms, holding her there for a long time. "It's okay. I promise you're safe now." He whispered, trying to make her feel better. Korra wanted to believe it, but to her hope was lost and there was no longer a point to anything.

"Mako." Korra pulled back, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, she wanted to yell at him like she had Aang but the look in his golden eyes melted her and she couldn't, instead she just flung her arms around him. The feeling of him holding her, the comforting ashy smell that came off of him, and his whispered words of love were all too much, causing Korra's tears to spill out.

"Hey…" Mako rubbed her back. "Hey, it's alright now." It broke his heart to see her like this.

"No. Mako you don't understand. Nothing is okay. Everything is ruined!" More tears spilled over onto Mako's shirt. The rest of Team Avatars stood there in shocked silence, they'd never really seen Korra this upset. Mako frowned, noticing them watching.

"Korra, let's go for a walk." The firebender laced his fingers between hers and pulled her down the beach until they were out of earshot. He pushed Korra down to sit on the rocks with him. "Want to tell me why everything is ruined?"

"Mako…" Korra sniffled and shook her head, fresh tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Okay, okay, maybe in a bit." Mako grinned, producing a tiny flame in his hand. "Want to make shapes with our bending? That always cheers you up!" Korra stared at the fire Mako was holding, it crushed her.

"No." She stood up, pulling on the two ponytails she wore in the front of her hair. "I don't want to bend!"

"Come on, just try it. You never know, it might help." Mako frowned, watching as Korra squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "Korra…" He extinguished his flame and put his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? You can talk to me."

"It's gone." Korra looked up at Mako suddenly. "It's all gone Mako!" Korra burst into tears, crying harder than she had in her entire life. "They took my bending. It's all gone!"

"Korra…" Mako didn't know what to say, he felt horrible for her.

"Everything's ruined." Korra shook her head. "I'm not the Avatar anymore, I'm just a stupid non-bender who ruined the chances of helping to bring the world back into balance."

"You're not stupid Korra!" Mako took her by her shoulders. "What about Aang? Can't he just give you your bending back? Why don't you talk to him?"

"Because Mako! As soon as Kuaza injected me with that poison I felt Raava leave me. She must've gone back to Aang. Why would he give up half the Avatar Spirit for me? " Korra shook her head, but Mako just smiled.

"If it had been Aang who lost his bending would you have given up half of the Avatar Spirit for him?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Korra sighed.

"Of course I would." She shook her head, the tiny girl knew what she had to do. "Come on Mako." Korra took his hand, squeezing it tight for support as they made their way back to where the others were waiting.

"You're back!" Bolin smiled. "Are you okay Korra?" The earthbender hugged the girl, wanting to make sure she was okay. "We were all really worried about you."

"I know." Korra frowned, hugging him back for a second before wiggling out of his arms so she could talk to everyone. "I just wanted to apologize to you all for the way I was acting earlier… especially to Skye and Aang." Korra turned her attention on the couple, her cheeks blushing furiously. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." Skye smiled, she wasn't really the type of person to keep grudges over something someone said when they were simply hurt and upset over something.

"You want to talk?" Aang asked, getting up from his place at Skye's side. Korra took a deep breath and nodded.

"Actually, yes." Korra answered. Mako smiled at her encouragingly as she followed the Avatar away from the group. Once Aang and Korra got to Appa, the airbender threw Korra her staff.

"I don't want this, it's yours." Aang smiled, trying to show her he wasn't angry with her at all. Korra caught the staff easily in her hand, leaning against it for support.

"Aang, I need to tell you something." Korra felt butterflies building up in her stomach. "I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it." The young girl took a deep breath. "Kuaza, the woman who's behind this whole mess, took my bending away."

"Korra..." Aang frowned, he couldn't imagine what this little girl had to be feeling right now. He knew only the Avatar had been able to take bending away before, but the world had advanced quite a bit in their knowledge of spirit-bending over the years. "Why wouldn't you tell me before?" He wondered. Korra chewed her lip for a moment.

"Because I was worried you wouldn't want to give me my bending back. I mean you have full control over the Avatar Spirit now, I can feel the emptiness where it was before." The small girl shook her head. "I realized I was being ridiculous about it when Mako asked if I would give you back half the Avatar Spirit if the rolls were reversed."

"And would you?" Aang asked, though like Mako he thought he already knew the answer.

"I would give you back all of the Avatar Spirit if that's what it took for your bending to come back." Korra sighed. "Aang, you're not just the person I share Raava with, you're my brother and I love you."

"Korra." Aang pulled the girl into his arms then, touched by her words. "I love you too. You're the best little sister in the world." He pulled away slightly then. "Ready to get your bending back?" Aang asked. Korra nodded once, closing her eyes. Aang crouched down so he was at eye level with her and arranged his fingers on her forehead, closing his eyes he focused on their energy. Try and try as he may, he couldn't get any of his energy to flow to Korra. He couldn't give her back her bending. Slowly he released her from his hold, cringing when he saw her pop the lid on her water pouch and try to bend. Nothing happened.

"Aang…" Korra looked up at him, worry clear on her face. "Why can't I…"

"Korra, something's wrong." Aang looked confused about it himself. "I can't give you back your bending…"

"What!?" Korra asked, her voice jumping up three octaves.

"Don't worry!" Aang held his hands up in surrender. "I promise you we'll find a way to fix this." Korra sighed, leaning her face in Aang's chest, being dramatic.

"Whatever we do, can we go home for a little while first? I want to see Naga." Korra sounded so upset and deflated that Aang couldn't tell her no.

"Yes, we'll go back to Republic City for a while. We should probably tell the others what's going on though." He sighed, putting his arm around the tiny girl as they headed back to the airship once again.

"Everything alright now?" Zuko asked when he saw the two of them walking back with their arms around each other.

"Sort of." Aang answered shortly, looking down at Korra. The tiny girl frowned but took a deep breath, being brave.

"Kuaza took my bending away and Aang can't give it back to me for some reason." Everyone in the group was unanimously horrified by this idea. Even the older members of the group knew that this wasn't how things were supposed to be.

"We need to help you two figure out a way to return the Avatar Spirit to her." Sokka said, effectively putting everyone's thoughts into words.

"I agree with Sokka." Toph chimed in. "It's not supposed to be just Avatar Aang anymore. Avatar Korra needs to be right there by his side helping to save the world."

"We won't rest until we find a way to fix this." Asami said, taking a small step forward. "And I would still mean that even if it were the other way around." All of the younger kids nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then it's settled. What's the plan?" Zuko asked, looking to Aang and Korra.

"We're going to Republic City. We'll deal with everything else when we get there." Aang told the Fire Lord. Zuko nodded.

"Okay." Katara clapped her hands together. "Everyone who is not Aang, Korra, Skye, or Mako let's get on the airship." Everyone obeyed, scurrying onto the ship.

"We'll see you when we land!" Suki called as she closed the gangplank up after everyone coming with them had boarded. Aang led his small group over to Appa. He took Skye by the waist and airbended them both into the saddle, then held his hands out to pull Mako, then Korra up with them.

"Come on Korra." Aang smiled, patting the spot beside him. Korra crawled up onto Appa's head next to her brother and took the reins he was offering her. "Do you remember what to do?" Aang asked her. Korra nodded, giving the reins a little flick.

"Appa, Yip Yip!"


	27. Ready

**A/N: I apologize for not updating this story. I know some of my readers have been waiting (im)patiently for me to get back to this, but I really lost the spark I feel writing this… I'm not even sure if it's back yet, but I figure I needed to try to write it. I really hope that I get my following back from when this first started because lately the views have dropped and I get a significantly less amount of reviews. If you guys don't like the direction the story is going in let me know in a review and I'll try to make changes that we'll both like. Thanks for understanding.**

* * *

Republic City was not at all as welcoming as Korra thought it would be. She had been warned that this was a very real possibility by Mako on the trip home, but she hadn't imagined anything like what had actually happened to take place. As soon as Appa and the airship landed, the full force of the police department had been unleashed onto them. Within seconds hands were bound, people were thrown into Satomobiles, and Team Avatars found themselves being arrested. Now they were all sitting in separate holding cells after each one of them had refused to answer any questions the police asked them.

"I am so sorry." Aang whispered over to Korra, his cell was directly across from hers. Ever since they'd locked her in Korra had been sitting in the corner of her cell facing away from her older brother. The young girl was beside herself, she'd lost everything… her parents were furious at her, she couldn't bend anymore, and now she was almost positive that she was going to be separated from Aang and the rest of her friends for good.

"Aang, I know you mean well, but I think it's best if we just leave her alone right now… she's been through a lot." Skye suggested from the cell next to Korra's. Aang nodded, knowing she was right.

"This sucks." Toph grumbled. "These cages are made out of platinum, so I can't even bend us out of here! Who do these people think they are locking up the group of people who saved them from utter chaos when Ozai tried to take over!?" The earthbender shook her head and let herself slide down onto the floor.

"I'm going to get us out of here." Aang told the others, though he had no plan on how he was going to do it.

"How?" Sokka asked. "I've been trying to think of a way out of here since we got here and there's no easy way we're going to get out."

"What if we…" Everyone started, voicing their opinions all at once, talking over one another out of the need to have their plan be the best.

"Will you guys all just shut up!" Korra screamed, covering her ears with her hands. "We're not going to escape! We're just going to sit here and do what they tell us to do! This isn't a joke so stop trying to treat it like some huge inconvenience in the grand scheme of whatever it is we're trying to accomplish! My bending is gone and Aang's the only Avatar again, isn't that what you all wanted in the first place? For there to only be one Avatar?"

"Korra…" Skye frowned. "That's not true. I know I haven't been part of your group for a long time, but from what I've seen already I don't think anyone was hoping for this."

"Skye's right." Suki chimed in. "We may have been apprehensive about having two Avatar's when we first met you, but now we see that you and Aang are meant to be a team. We're all going to help you through this."

"Quiet down in here!" One of the prison guards demanded upon entering the long hallway of cells Team Avatar's was being held in. "Your bail has been posted. All of you are free to go." He explained as he started to unlock the doors holding each of them.

"Wait… who could afford to post bail for all twelve of us?" Opal wondered.

"Good question." A voice familiar to the members of the original Team Avatar answered.

"Azula?" Aang asked, going over to stand by Skye once again as soon as he was freed. "Thanks for coming to help us out, but can I ask how you knew we were here?"

"Katara requested that I was called. If it weren't for her you'd all be stuck rotting in here for who knows how long."

"Wow, thanks Katara!" Azula grinned, she wasn't accustomed to being locked up in prison and the day they had spent there was already long enough for her.

"Now, I have talked to Asami's father and got his permission to take her with us, I have the young Avatar's polarbear-dog waiting on my ship, and prepared bags for each of you with all the necessities you'll need for our trip to the Fire Nation.

"Our trip to the what?" Korra frowned. "There's no way my parents are going to let me go anywhere with you people after everything that's happened. I'll be surprised if they ever even let me out of my room again."

"It'll be okay." Mako tried, going over to rest his hand on Korra's shoulder. "They can't stay mad at you forever."

"The young firebender is right." Azula interrupted. "I have located Tonraq and Senna and had a little… discussion… with them pertaining to your duties as the Avatar." The Fire Nation Princess grinned wickedly as she opened her palm to reveal a bright blue flame. "Let's just say they changed their minds on the subject."

"Azula!" Zuko yelled, the children were all looking at the woman with shocked and fearful expressions, that is, all of the children minus Korra.

"I don't even want to know what you did, but let's not let it go to waste." Korra told Azula. "Let's go to the Fire Nation just like you said, we'll come up with a plan once we get there."

"See, I knew I liked you!" Azula went over to Korra, putting her arm around her shoulder as she guided them out of the police station. The rest of Team Avatars exchanged worried glances but followed after them.

"I thought the Fire Princess went insane at the end of the war?" Skye whispered to Aang.

"She did…" Aang answered carefully. "Zuko says she's fine now, but sometimes I'm not so sure… at least she's on our side now."

…

An hour later Team Avatars found themselves back at the cliff they'd been arrested on. Appa and the airship were still waiting there and Azula's ship was waiting in the water below.

"We're going to break up into three groups. We need to keep Aang and Korra separated just in case someone else wants to hurt them." Zuko explained, everyone seemed to agree to this plan.

"I'm going to fly with Skye on Appa. Anyone else who wants to come is welcome to join us." Aang looked at the others, waiting to see if he had any takers. Opal raised her hand.

"Can I come with you and Skye?" She asked shyly. "I want to see what a sky bison is like."

"If Opal's going with you guys I want to come too." Bolin told them, not willing to leave his best friend alone after everything that'd been happening.

"Sounds good to me." Skye smiled, looking over to Aang for his approval.

"Works for me." He nodded.

"Alright, so Aang, Skye, Opal, and Bolin are going on Appa. Who's going with Azula?" Zuko asked.

"I'm going with Azula." Korra answered then took Mako's hand, she didn't need to ask to know he'd stay by her side. Even though she was acting moody, Mako knew that it was only because her entire life was being uprooted with every second that passed.

"I'll go with Azula too." The young firebender confirmed.

"Okay, then Katara, Toph, Suki, and Sokka will come with me on the airship." Zuko said, starting to help gather the supplies Azula had brought for them. Once everyone had all their things and said their goodbyes, Team Avatars went to stand with their assigned groups. Zuko's group filed onto the airship and Aang helped Skye, Opal, and Bolin into Appa's saddle.

"It will take a few days to get to the palace from here!" Azula called to Aang and Zuko. "The main thing we need to worry about right now is getting everyone there in one piece. Stay safe." Zuko nodded once before disappearing inside his airship and closing the gangplank.

"You guys be careful too!" Aang called over to Azula, Mako, and his sister as he propelled himself up onto Appa's shoulders, he was just about to take off when he remembered something. "Hey Korra!" He called, reaching into the saddle and producing her glider. "You forgot something!" Aang grinned, tossing it to her. Korra caught it easily and wrapped her fingers tight around it, the glider symbolized her hope that Aang would be able to help her find her bending again. She was going to hold on to it and protect it with her life until someone could manage to permanently pry it away from her.

"Thanks Aang." Korra whispered, though the boy had already taken to the sky and was well out of earshot.

"Ready to go?" Azula asked, she and Mako were waiting at the top of the path leading down the water.

"I'm ready." Korra answered, more determined than ever to get her bending back and put her life back together.

* * *

**A/N: If you liked it _please_ leave a review telling me you did... it'll make me feel so much more confident in updating this story again. If you didn't like it, let me know why so I can make it better for next time! Point is... I'd love a review to see what you thought!**


	28. Road to the Fire Nation

"What do you think we're going to find in the Fire Nation?" Katara asked, looking out the window at the endless blue ocean surrounding the airship. The group had already been flying for two days and it would still be a lot more traveling to get to where they were going.

"I don't know." Sokka sighed. "Whatever it is can't be any worse than Republic City."

"I just hope whatever we do find helps to bring back Korra's bending." Suki added, draping her arms around Sokka's shoulders as she joined the siblings by the window.

"I know." Katara frowned slightly. "I just feel like any time something starts to go Aang's way something else comes along and takes it away."

"Yeah." Sokka shook his head sadly. "We break him out of the ice and then he's targeted, we go to the Air Temple and he finds out his people have been slaughtered, he falls in love with you and you decide you love Zuko, now he finds out he has a little sister who can airbend and she loses her bending."

"We get the point Sokka." Suki interrupted, the list of negativity was only serving to bring the mood down.

"What we really need to do is focus on how to get Korra's bending back." Katara sighed. "How we're going to do that is beyond me."

"Well, I'm sure we'll think of something. There has to be some way to help her." The other girl answered with a look of determination.

"What are we all talking about?" Zuko asked as he walked up to the group, he'd been in his map room thinking about the request he'd gotten from Aang pertaining to Skye's family.

"We're talking about Aang and Korra." Sokka told him. "We're trying to think of how to get Korra's bending back."

"I don't think Korra's bending is really even _gone._" Toph interjected from across the room. The earthbender had remained silent for the entire conversation, wrapped up in her own thoughts about the two Avatar's for a long time.

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, turning to look at his friend. Toph got herself up and joined the group by the window, giving them a little shrug before she spoke.

"I'm just saying… I think it would take something a little bit more potent than chi blocking poison to overtake Ravva."

"Huh…" The group collectively took in the thought. True, it was a little crazy but for the moment it was the best lead they had.

…

"Alright Opal, guide Appa down over by those trees." Aang instructed. The young girl had been amazed by the sky bison ever since they'd left Republic City. She'd asked Aang countless questions about Air Nomads and airbending over the two days they'd been flying, eventually they'd gotten on the topic of sky bison and Aang offered her a lesson in flying, he'd been copilot ever since.

"Okay!" Opal smiled and directed Appa over to the trees, landing him as expertly as Aang would have.

"You're a natural!" Aang praised. "Almost as if you were an airbender like me!" He added with a laugh before jumping down from the saddle and helping the child down. Bolin tried climbing down on his own while Aang was assisting Skye, but ended up falling into the soft grass.

"Are you alright?" Skye asked, offering the young boy a hand up. He gratefully accepted the help with a little laugh.

"I'm fine!" Bolin grinned, simply excited to have his native element under his feet again. Aang went to go stand beside Skye and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"If you and Opal want to run around a bit while Skye and I fix dinner that's fine, just don't go too far." Aang smiled. The two little kids lit up at the idea and Opal grabbed at Bolin's hand.

"Let's go play over there!" She shouted and pulled Bolin over to a little hill with lots of little flowers. Aang and Skye watched as the two giggled and laughed as they rolled down the hill and ran back up just to repeat the process.

"They're so sweet." Skye commented as she turned to Aang. The Avatar smiled.

"They are! I love how Opal is so fascinated by my people's history." Aang gathered a few sticks together, setting them up in a teepee shape before using his firebending to get them to catch so they could make a vegetable soup.

"You know, Aang, I really like learning about the Air Nomad customs as well." A slight blush colored the girl's cheeks when the Avatar looked her way. "I mean, I know I'm from the Earth Kingdom and all that, but I always thought the idea of gliding through the air was amazing. I mean being able to create wind and manipulate it to your will is real power." Skye seemed to get more and more excited with each word she said, giving Aang an idea.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, echoing the question he'd asked his sister just before he'd shown her the same thing.

"With all my heart." Skye answered, not even questioning why he'd asked her that. Aang's heart fluttered a little bit when he saw how concrete she seemed with the answer she'd given him, he was glad she trusted him.

"Well, then come on!" Aang effortlessly interlocked their fingers and raced over to Appa's saddle, grabbing his glider out of it. Aang dropped Skye's hand and turned to look at her with a huge grin on his face. "You're going to love this!" He promised as he twirled his staff open. "Hold on tight." He told her. Once Skye had her arms wrapped tightly around Aang's waist the Avatar propelled them into the air. He took them higher and higher until they were far above the clouds and then, without warning, he let them fall.

"Ahh!" Skye yelled, laughing as she got butterflies in her stomach. "This is amazing!" She yelled to Aang. The airbender smiled, wondering what other gliding tricks would provoke this girl's happy laughter. He did barrel rolls and loop-de-loops with her, he let them spin and fall and climb and tumble through the air. Skye loved all of it from the startling drops to the rush of the wind in her hair, but her favorite was falling. To Skye, every fall seemed to last eternity and a small part of her worried about crashing into the ground hundreds of feet below, but she trusted Aang to send them rocketing back up before that could happen. To Skye, every second she and Aang fell through the air, was another second that made her fall more in love with him.

"See! I told you you'd love it!" Aang boasted as soon as he returned them to the ground and twirled his staff closed again.

"I love _you_!" Skye gushed, boldly pulling Aang down by his shirt so she could gently press her lips to his. After a second or two she pulled away with a little giggle.

"I… I love you too." Aang answered a little breathlessly, his face colored bright red.

"Thanks for taking me gliding with you. I had _sooooo_ much fun!" Skye smiled, taking Aang's hands in hers.

"Then I'll take you again!" Aang grinned, he was so happy that the girl he loved enjoyed his favorite airbending passtime. "Seriously! Whenever you want to go just ask."

"Okay, I will, but right now we have to get some dinner ready." At the same time the Avatar and the Earth Kingdom girl turned to look at the hill Opal and Bolin had been playing at, they were still happily rolling around in the grass.

"I'll get the bowls, you go check on the soup." Aang told Skye before airbending himself up into his bison's saddle. He dug four bowls and four spoons out of their supplies, fed Appa some fruit, and even went to get Opal and Bolin before making his way back over to Skye.

"When do… we need… to get… back in… the air?" Bolin asked in between bites of soup, playing with Opal had made him extra hungry. Aang laughed, taking the boy's empty bowl so he could give him another spoonful.

"We're going to start up again as soon as we finish cleaning up from dinner. If we weren't in such a rush we could've slept for a little while, but I don't want the others to get too far ahead of us."

"_That_ soon?" Bolin groaned, he didn't like being away from solid ground for that long. Opal laughed at her friend, resting her hand on his knee.

"Don't worry Bo! We can play a game or something and we'll be there before you know it!" The young non-bender smiled, trying to bring Bolin's mood up. Whatever she did must've worked because the boy perked up a bit, even going so far as to clean up their dishes after dinner. Skye went over to Appa and helped the younger two members of the group into the saddle again before climbing up herself. Aang used waterbending to put the fire out so there would be no chance of a forest fire and before they knew it the group was in the air again.

…

"What are you doing up? I thought you and Mako had gone to bed hours ago." Azula asked as she came to stand by Korra. It was dark by now and she had been about to go to sleep herself when she noticed the young girl and her polarbear-dog sitting out on the deck.

"I guess I just couldn't sleep." Korra shrugged, she didn't move from her spot leaning against Naga. Azula frowned and sat down across from the girl.

"What's troubling you?" She asked, genuinely wanting to help. Korra shrugged again, not saying anything for a long time.

"I guess I'm just confused." Korra frowned, not able to look at Azula. "I thought that being the Avatar would be more fun, but all it's done is make my mom and dad angry, gotten my friends in trouble, and it's all for nothing." The young Avatar blinked away tears. "I can't even bend anymore… I've already let everyone down. I failed."

"Korra… let me tell you a little story." Azula waited for an answer but got only silence, she took this as a cue to continue. "When I was younger, I thought I knew who I was. I was powerful… too powerful. My mother was afraid of me, I lost my two best friends, my brother… everyone thought I was crazy." Azula stopped, laughing a little bit at her last statement.

"But… you're powerful now." Korra interrupted. "I mean Fire Lord Zuko left you in charge of the entire Fire Nation while he was gone."

"Well that may be true, but there was a time that he wouldn't have trusted me to be in charge of a pile of sand." Azula sighed. "You see Korra, I know it's cliche and all that, but with great power comes great responsibility. When I was not much older than you, I couldn't handle that power until it took everything I had. It was only when I'd reached my lowest point that I was able to understand how to use what I'd been given properly."

"You sound like a fortune cookie." Korra sighed, letting herself fall back into her sleeping pet's fur. Azula smiled slightly, amused by this.

"What I'm trying to say is that sometimes you need to fail magnificently in order to rise up and become who you're meant to be. Don't give up on hope just yet." Azula smiled encouragingly and got up, leaving Korra to ponder the advice she'd just given. The Fire Nation princess knew that even if the words didn't make sense right now that they would eventually, at least that's what had happened when Iroh had been the one giving the speech to her almost thirteen years before.


	29. Dreamlike

**A/N: I suck at updating… I apologize. I went away to the land of no internet connection for a while but I'm back now. Hopefully you like the update.**

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Korra had spent the night outside on the ship's deck thinking over the meaning of Azula's words, though she didn't know she had the definition down to an exact translation she'd spent the night trying to figure it out until eventually she'd fallen asleep. When she woke the next morning the sun was shining brightly and she could see spires over the side of the ship, they had arrived at the Fire Nation earlier than they'd expected.

"Did you sleep well?" Mako laughed when he saw Korra prop herself up on her elbow, he'd been watching over her since he found her there this morning. The young girl smiled to herself, for some reason she didn't feel like moping around today.

"Yeah, actually." Korra stretched a little bit. "What time is it?" She wondered, thinking it was a little bit too bright to be first thing in the morning.

"It's almost three in the afternoon. The other's all went to the palace first thing when we landed, they brought Naga with them. I didn't want to wake you up, you haven't really been sleeping well since you…" Mako trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.

"Since I lost my bending?" Korra asked, bringing herself to her feet. "It's okay to say it." A look of confusion passed Mako's face as he wondered what could have prompted this sudden change in the girl's mood. Korra just laughed, keeping Azula's wisdom to herself. "Wanna go have some fun in town before we catch up with the others?"

"Uh… sure." Mako answered. Korra smiled then, grabbing the boy's warm hand as she took off racing through the narrow hallways of the ship.

"We just need to get my glider! I hid it so nobody would be able to find it in my room while I wasn't in there." After going through a maze of hallways, Korra stopped and pushed a chair under one of the air ducts.

"Korra… be careful!" Mako caught the chair just before it fell over, but the small Avatar already had half her body hidden in the vent.

"I know you're in here!" Korra called out to her staff, feeling around for it in the dark. Mako watched this in disbelief. He thought she was totally insane sometimes, but it only made him love her more. "Gotcha!" Korra called, shimmying out of the duct and jumping down to the ground with the airbending heirloom clutched tight in her right hand.

"Ready now?" Mako asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched a smile grow on her face.

"Yup!" Korra grabbed his hand, and took off running out to the top deck. She kept running, her pace picking up a bit as she sprinted to the end of the ship. Mako's eyes widened when he realized she wasn't going to slow down.

"Korra! You can't bend what are you do- ahh!" Before he'd finished his thought Korra had thrown them off the end of Azula's ship and was letting them fall. She had a serene look on her face as the wind whipped through her hair and rushed all around her. Mako squeezed his eyes shut as the ground came closer and closer, not expecting to shoot back up in the air when the crazy little Avatar girl finally opened her glider and let them coast gently to the ground.

"Fun right?" Korra laughed at Mako's bewildered expression. The young firebender had so many questions that he didn't know where to start.

"Are you out of your mind!?" He asked starting to pace as he pulled at his hair, Korra smiled and took a seat in the soft grass as he ranted about her carelessness. Mako was about coming to the end of his tirade when he stopped dead in his track. "Wait a second! How did you do that? I thought you couldn't bend."

"I _didn't_ bend. All you really have to do is feel the air currents when you're falling and ride them to the ground." Korra shrugged, she hadn't realized that the very notion of feeling the air currents was airbending in it's most basic form. Mako however did and decided he needed to tell Aang about what Korra had just done.

"Korra, I think I actually want to head back to the palace before we go explore the city… I could use some food." The young firebender's stomach growled as if to prove his point. Korra nodded, the mention of food bringing up her own hunger.

"I'll race you!" She grinned, taking off towards the tall spires not too far off in the distance. When the two kids got to the palace they were greeted by Skye and Opal.

"Oh good! You're back!" Opal grinned. "Bolin really missed you Mako."

"Oh did he now?" The firebender asked, he played it off like he didn't care, but in all reality he'd missed his brother too. Opal saw through him but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, he did. Come on, I'll show you where he is!" Without pausing to give him a chance to say no, Opal led Mako out of the room to go find Bolin, leaving Korra alone with Skye. The older girl rolled up the scroll she'd been reading and turned to look at Korra.

"You seem a lot happier than when we left." Skye smiled, genuinely happy to see that the younger girl was feeling better. Korra nodded in agreement.

"I am." Korra answered brightly, switching her staff from one hand to the other. "Do you know where my brother is?"

"Sorry, Korra, I don't know. Aang and Zuko went off to go do something, all he said was that it was important to him that he did it." The petite girl shrugged, not in the least bit worried about what errand the Avatar and the Fire Lord had run off to do.

"Oh, okay." Korra sighed, but didn't let it ruin her mood. "I guess I'll just wait for him to come back, I just wanted to ask him something."

"Anything I can help you with?" Skye asked, intrigued by the look on the young Avatar's face. Korra looked over to her, she didn't know that Skye would be able to help her but she figured it couldn't hurt to try.

"I had a really weird dream last night… it wasn't a bad dream… but it was weird. I thought maybe Aang would know what it meant because some of our past lives were in it. Avatar Roku and Avatar Kyoshi were there, even Avatars Yangchen and Kuruk. They were trying to tell me something but I couldn't hear them."

"Maybe you couldn't hear them because you lost your connection to the elements?" Skye offered, racking her brain to think of anything she might have read about the subject of past lives of the Avatar. "What did you see in the dream?" Korra scrunched up her face as she thought about it.

"I saw light…" Korra frowned, looking back up to Skye. "A big bright light that reached all the way to the sky. It was the brightest thing I've ever seen and I swear it was like I was right there."

"Do you mean you saw a Spirit Portal?" Skye asked, rifling through a few scrolls on the table until she found the one she was looking for and showed it to Korra. The young Avatar nodded, studying the image for a moment before raising a hand and slowly reaching out so her fingers were hovering right above it.

"Yeah." Korra told her with a sense of wonder in her voice. "It was a Spirit Portal. The weird thing is…" Korra took her hand back from the scroll without making contact with it. "... when I reached out and touched the light beam in my dream, everything went black and my past lives were gone."

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**A/N: So this one is a bit on the short side, but I felt like this is where the chapter wanted to end, I'm going to try and update again very soon. Please leave a review! It'll encourage me to write more.**


	30. Pull

Korra talked with Skye for hours about her dream, the Spirit Portals, and what she thought was keeping her from being able to regain access to her bending. The things that they talked about would have seemed grand and abstract, but being the Avatar, Korra understood what Skye was getting at perfectly.

"You know…" Korra started as she got up from her chair. "... Aang is really lucky to have you. You're really nice." The mini-Avatar's words caused a scarlet blush to color Skye's cheeks.

"Oh… well thanks." The shy girl answered, she didn't really know how to respond.

"Thanks for talking to me about all this, I feel a lot better now." Korra grinned. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have something I have to do."

"Okay. Good luck Avatar Korra." Skye smiled, laughing a little bit as she rolled up the mess of scrolls they had laying out on the table. Korra would have offered to help, but she knew what she had to do was a bit more important. On her way to her bedroom Korra stopped in the kitchen and made herself a batch of the foul banana and onion juice that she'd lived on while Aang was coaching her through unlocking her chakras. Once she was satisfied that she'd gotten the bitter taste right she snuck through the hallways to her room and looked around before settling down in lotus position underneath the window with her back against the wall.

"Okay. You can do this." Korra took a deep breath in and out before downing the disgusting bowl of juice and closing her eyes. "Focus on your breathing, don't be afraid." She said, picturing the words coming out of her brother's mouth. Slowly and methodically the young girl thought through each of the chakras she'd unlocked with Aang and thought about how she'd gotten there. She thought about all the pain and raw emotion she'd battled through to reach pure enlightenment and focused on the memory of that feeling.

"_Nothing is stronger than the connection we share." _Korra heard an unearthly voice tell her, she couldn't explain how she knew the voice but somehow she just knew.

"Ravva." Korra said the name out loud with certainty, opening her eyes to find herself in the Spirit World. A small smile crossed her face in celebration of her small triumph. Who knew that taking an airbender's approach to things would work so well?

"_We are still connected Korra." _ Ravva's voice told the young Avatar. Korra nodded in agreement, already her connection to herself as the Avatar felt stronger.

"We are still connected." Korra repeated, following the strong urge she got to start walking in a particular direction. She walked for what felt like a few hours in the direction she was tugged in.

In reality she'd been in the Spirit World for almost a week. Zuko and Aang had returned from their errand, but before Aang had a chance to tell Skye the news he'd learned about her family she'd told him that Korra had been in the Spirit World for the better part of the time he'd been away. Right away Aang meditated into the Spirit World in search of his little sister. It didn't take him more than a day or two to catch up with her since he'd been running, looking for her with purpose, and Korra was walking slowly, being careful not to miss a step.

"Do you feel it?" Korra asked, sensing her brother before she actually turned around and looked at him.

"The pull?" Aang asked, he had so many things he'd wanted to talk to her about but none of it seemed to matter anymore. "Yeah, I feel it too." Aang took a few steps more steps in the direction Korra was going, before speaking again. "Why are you going away from it?" He wondered, making Korra stop dead in her tracks.

"Aang." She turned and looked at him. "I'm going towards the pull… Are you being pulled in the other direction?" It was only a guess, but she was right.

"I think so." Aang looked over his shoulder. "I don't know what we should do. I'm being pulled in the opposite direction."

"Go." Korra didn't hesitate. "We need to do this." The tiny girl was absolutely certain about this, making Aang more willing to try it.

"Okay… be careful Korra." Aang warned, wrapping the smaller Avatar up in his arms for a moment.

"You too. Love you big brother." Korra flashed Aang a crooked grin. Aang smiled back at her.

"Love you too little sister." He told her before turning around and heading off in the direction he was being pulled.

...

It didn't take long for Aang to reach his destination, the Southern Spirit Portal. When he got there he somehow knew that he was meant to walk through it into the Physical World, he only hoped that Korra would know what to do when she reached what he assumed would be the Northern Spirit Portal… and she did.

"A Spirit Portal." Korra breathed, walking up to the glowing source of light and circling around it. It was just like the one she'd seen in her dream or the one on the scroll Skye had showed her. If it weren't for Skye's kind words of encouragement when they'd talked about this a week earlier Korra probably would have retreated in the other direction the second she saw the beam of magic light. "I need to do this." Korra whispered, bringing her hand up so it was just hovering above the light. The young Avatar waited… for what, she didn't know... but something told her not to go. She waited patiently until all of a sudden she felt a strong urge to plunge her hand through the Spirit Portal and enter the Physical World. She did this at the same exact moment Aang was passing through the Southern portal.

The very instant the two Avatars stepped out of the portals, the world around them started spinning in fast forward as their spirit forms were being pulled back to their bodies like they were tethered by a rubber band. Korra and Aang made it back to their bodies in the exact same instant, each opening their eyes to reveal glowing blue eye as they were raised into the air amidst a whirlwind of elements.

…

I wonder when Aang and Korra are going to come back." Opal commented, she was playing around with Skye and Asami in the courtyard on the opposite side of the training area where all the other benders were practicing.

"I don't know." Asami sighed, tossing her hair to the side as she watched the two girls go through the motions of ancient airbending. When Asami had left the big group to ask what they were doing they'd told her about how they hoped to keep the art of airbending alive even though nobody, except for Aang and maybe Korra, could airbend. Opal even explained how there were air acolytes who devoted their entire lives to the process.

"I hope it's soon. I really miss Aang." Skye sighed, she hadn't seemed depressed or anything, but she'd definitely lost a little spark without Aang being around.

"I bet they're doing something super big and amazing!" Opal giggled, stepping back to watch as Skye tried to execute a more advanced move.

"Yeah." Skye smiled at the thought of her Aang saving the world again as she turned into the halfway point in her move. She let out a little chuckle before she started to transition into the end of the move. "Maybe they'll even bring back…" Skye froze as she landed her final pose, blowing both Asami and Opal off their feet with a relatively strong burst of air. "... airbending." She finished weakly, looking at her palm with wide eyes as the two girls stared at her in amazed disbelief.

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**A/N: Review! Pretty please? It'll make me update faster if I feel like people are actually still interested in reading this.**


	31. More Bending

"Did you just… airbend?" Opal asked, staring at Skye with equal feelings of shock, wonder, and jealousy. The older girl looked terrified, she didn't know what to make of this. Skye had accepted a long time ago that she'd never be able to bend, and even still she was struggling with how a girl from the Earth Kingdom had gotten the ability to airbend.

"I… think I did." Skye whispered, wide eyed as she finally looked away from her palm and went to help the two smaller girls up.

"Can you do it again?" Asami asked, wiping her pants off once she was returned to her feet.

"I don't know." Skye answered, she wasn't sure she was ready to try again.

"Oh come on!" Opal cheered. "You can do it!" The tiny girl clapped her hands together and bounced up and down. Her excitement was electric, Skye couldn't help but want to test out her new abilities when Opal was there encouraging her to try.

"Okay…" Skye took a deep breath and fell into a simple airbending pose, she focused all her thoughts on hitting every part of the move with perfect precision. She followed through perfectly, creating a stream of air any airbender should be proud of.

…

After going into the Avatar State both Aang and Korra had fallen limp onto the floor in Korra's bedroom, both of them exhausted. Aang woke up first hours later. At first he was a bit confused as to what happened and why he was passed out in Korra's room, then he caught sight of his little sister lying on the floor a few feet away and remembered she'd managed to travel into the Spirit World. He watched over her until she woke up a little while later, seeming to be wrestling with the idea of regaining her bending.

"Did I just…" She held her hand up in front of her face, she hadn't noticed Aang yet. He watched her curiously as she decided whether or not she was going to test out her bending.

"Try it." Aang encouraged. Korra glanced over to him, she wasn't really _surprised_ by his presence. Korra thought about it for a few more seconds before flicking her wrist and producing a small flame in her palm.

"Aang!" She jumped up, exchanging her flame for a bubble of water from her pouch, then she traded that in to pull up a chunk of rock from the floor. Korra looked at Aang with pure joy on her face as she replaced the earth and dug around in her pocket for the marbles he'd given her the day they met in person. Just like with the other three elements, Korra controlled air with ease.  
"I can bend!" She squeaked, running over to hug Aang.

"I'm so proud of you." Aang whispered as he held her close. "You still have a lot to learn before you're as good as I am with your airbending, but you will make a great master someday."

"Thanks Aang!" The smaller Avatar grinned. She pulled away and looked up at her brother. "Let's go show the others!"

"Okay, let's go find the others!"

…

"How'd you do that?" Opal asked, getting up from her spot in the grass. She and Asami had been watching Skye bend for almost half an hour now.

"Come here." Skye held her hands out for the little girl, she had come to take a liking to the girl over the weeks they'd spent together, she saw a lot of herself in Opal. "I want you to run through the set as if you're just practicing moves."

"Are you sure?" The smaller girl asked. She was afraid of not being able to airbend, she'd devoted her life to learning the old art form and it'd crush her if she couldn't do it now that there was a possibility she could.

"I have faith in you." Skye smiled. "Take your position!" She ordered cheerfully, she was confident that this girl would be able to airbend if she really tried.

"You can do it Opal!" Asami smiled. "You've lived your entire life for this moment! You know more about airbending than even Aang!" This made Opal laugh.

"Maybe not more than Aang, but I'll give it a shot." Opal took a deep breath and focused herself, going through the motions of the dance she'd been rehearsing since the day she'd found out about airbending. She prayed to the Spirits that something would happen when she got to her final pose... and it did. A strong burst of air, a little weaker than Skye's, but strong just the same, came blowing out of her palm.

"I did it! I did it!" Opal jumped up and down clapping her hands together. "Skye I airbended!" She giggled, attacking the older girl into a tight hug.

"You airbended?" A familiar voice asked from a few feet away. Opal turned around to see Korra walking into the yard with Aang.

"Korra!" She squealed, running over to the young Avatar. "I airbended!"

"So did Skye." Asami added, smiling slightly when she saw Skye's face turn red as she looked away from the two Avatars.

"You…" Aang started, staring at Skye in shock. "You airbended?" He watched as she brought her eyes up to look at him.

"I airbended." She confirmed, nodding a little. "Now there are four airbenders instead of just two… Maybe I can help you search the world for other airbenders too someday?" Skye grinned, totally committed to this because she knew it made Aang happy. The Avatar shook his head, a huge grin forming on his face as he quickly closed the distance between them and hugged her hard. Right now it didn't matter to him how or why Skye had acquired the new skill, he was just ecstatic that it was her. It'd been his dream for years to see the world filled with airbenders again, but for one of those new benders to be Skye… the girl who put a smile on his face everyday and warmed his heart with every moment they spent together, it was unbelievable.

"Skye…" Aang shook his head holding her at arms length, teary gray eyes shinning with love as he looked into her beautiful honey-brown ones. "You have no idea how happy I am. How happy you make me." Skye blushed slightly hearing that.

"I didn't realize me airbending would make you so happy." She chuckled, leaning in to kiss him sweetly.

"It's not your bending Skye… it's you." Aang smiled. "You were already perfect in my eyes, the airbending is just the icing on the cake."

"Eww." Korra teased, reminding her brother that there were children present. Aang turned and smiled at her, noticing Opal standing there too.

"So I hear you can airbend too?" Aang asked, crouching down so he was eye level with her. Opal nodded, suddenly very shy.

"Yes." She whispered. Skye smiled and walked over to the girl, taking her by the hand.

"Let's show them together." Skye brought the smaller girl a few feet away and stood across from her. "Just like we practiced earlier." She encouraged, falling into formation.

"Okay." Opal nodded, mirroring Skye. Together the two girls acted out the movements perfectly, both earning the prize of moving the air again.

"Wow!" Korra clapped, running over to Opal and hugging her tight. "I can't believe one of my best friends can airbend!"

"Me either." Aang grinned, going over to Skye. "I knew there was something special about you." He told her, blushing slightly.

"Let's go tell the others!" Korra shouted, her excitement rubbed off on Asami and Opal easily and before Aang knew it the three young girls were racing across the field to find their friends.

"Shall we join them?" Aang asked, offering Skye his hand. She took it without hesitation.

"Yes… but first, I've been thinking about something you said for a while…" Aang looked puzzled, racking his brain for anything he might have said to her that was out of the ordinary.

"What did I say?" He asked when he couldn't come up with anything on his own.

"The other day… before I interrupted and told you about Korra and the Spirit World… you said you had something important to tell me. What was it?"


	32. News for Skye

"Oh…" Aang deflated the slightest bit. "What did I have to tell you?" The Avatar looked down at his shoes and he kicked at the dirt so he wouldn't have to look at Skye. "I found out some information about your family."

"You did!" Skye bounced up and down, full of excitement.

"I did." Aang laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought of what to say or do next.

"Well?!" What did you find out!?" Skye asked, hardly able to wait another second for his answer. She'd been waiting to hear this news since she was ten years old. Aang frowned slightly, forcing himself to look up at the girl he'd grown to love.

"Let's go talk inside okay?" He asked. The question caused Skye's eyebrows to knit together, she wasn't used to Aang being so serious.

"Okay…" Skye took Aang's hand and held it tight, walking with him in silence back to his room.

"Skye…" Aang sat down on the foot of his perfectly made bed, holding both of Skye's hands in his as he looked her in the eye.

"Aangy… is something wrong?" The honey-brown eyes that the Avatar loved so much were now filled with worry and confusion. "I thought you said you had good news about my family?"

"I did say I had news about your family." Aang frowned. "It just isn't _good_ news."

"Wh-" Skye started to interrupt but Aang shook his head, he wanted to finish so that Skye wouldn't have to try and guess on her own.

"I asked Zuko to help me track down any information about the ships that took your mom and brother. We also figured out what happened to your dad after he went to fight." Aang squeezed Skye's hands, taking a deep breath. He would give anything, _anything_, to make it so she wouldn't have to feel the way this news was going to make her feel.

"Tell me." She breathed, her eyes already tearing up.

"Your dad was killed in battle... he had fought hard, but in the end his team was outnumbered."

"Daddy..." She sniffled, trying to control herself so Aang could finish. "What about mom and Kyon?" Skye asked, tears already flowing down her cheeks as she held her breath, hoping against all hope that some sort of miracle had happened.

"I'm so sorry." Aang pulled Skye close to his chest, her tears had made some of his own slide down his cheeks. "Once the ship your mom and Kyon were on got close enough to the Boiling Rock the Fire Nation separated the men and women so that it they could bring them to the different facilities. The boat your mom was on ended up sinking after a few of the benders tried to overthrow the captain and escape."

"Mom..." Skye clung to Aang, sobs causing her petite body to shake. "Aang please… please tell me what happened to Kyon."

"Actually, Zuko hasn't told me that part yet." Aang frowned, he wished he had all the answers for her. "He said he was going to check into what happened to Kyon while I checked on what happened with Jaida and Ryco. I was going to ask him as soon as I got back but then I had to deal with Korra..." Aang pulled away from her a tiny bit, puffy red eyes looking into even puffier red eyes. "I didn't even want to tell you until I knew everything, but you asked and I didn't feel it was right to keep you waiting any longer. Do you want to go ask Zuko together?"

"I have to know." Skye answered, standing up. "He saved me Aang."

"I understand." Aang nodded, getting up. He wiped her tears away with the back of his thumb before taking her hand once again and going with her to find the Fire Lord. They didn't have to go far to find him.

"Umm… what's going on?" Zuko asked, his face contorted into a look of shock, he wasn't sure he'd ever really seen Aang cry.

"Aangy just told me about…" The poor girl couldn't finish the statement without disappearing into a puddle of new tears.

"Zuko… please tell me you have good news about her brother." Aang was practically begging the Fire Lord at this point, he needed _something_ that would put a smile on his beautiful Skye's face once again.

"Actually, I guess it would depend on how you look at it." Zuko smiled slightly, shifting the large stack of papers he was holding from one arm to the other. "Kyon made it to the Boiling Rock in one piece. If anyone has any record of him it would be a man by the name of Ashan… he lives in a small village by where we went to see the Sun Warriors that time… his job is to help the wrongfully imprisoned benders from the Boiling Rock find their way back to their respective nations."

"Kyon… could be alive?" Skye whispered.

"It's a possibility…" Zuko answered carefully. "I sent Ashon a letter when I got back, I should be hearing back from him within a few days."

"A few days." Skye nodded. "I guess I will have to wait til then."

"No, I know a way we can find out faster." Aang shook his head, Skye had been through too much just to have to wait days, maybe weeks to find out about her brother. "We need to go see Ashon ourselves."

"Really!? Can we?" Skye seemed to brighten a little bit at the very idea of it.

"Aang, it's too dangerous for you to leave. In case you've forgotten, people haven't exactly been trying to help you out lately." Zuko frowned slightly when he saw the look that crossed the Avatar's face.

"I don't care who's on my side. I need to do this for Skye." Aang took Skye by the hand, pulling her past Zuko, they nearly made it all the way down the hall before he stopped them.

"Wait." Zuko sighed. "You'll need supplies, I'll meet you by Appa in a minute."

"Thanks." Aang grinned before running with Skye out to where he kept his sky bison. "Appa! You ready to go on a little trip buddy?" Aang smiled and brought his beloved pet some hay. Skye helped to get his saddle on and before long Zuko had rejoined them with a map, some food, and other things they'd need on their mission.

"Be safe. The world can't stand to lose you now." Zuko warned. Aang nodded.

"I'll be back." Aang answered, helping Skye up into the saddle. "The trip shouldn't take more than two or three days."

"Okay. I'll cover for you with the others." Zuko smiled before turning his attention on Skye. "Good luck."

"Thanks Zuko." Skye managed with a little smile as Aang ordered Appa into the sky and they started the short journey to find Ashon. Skye spent most of the trip hanging over the side of the saddle watching the clouds go by as she grieved over the loss of her parents, the only thing keeping her whole right now was the thought that Kyon might still be alive and the fact that she had Aang by her side.

…

"Look!" Aang shouted a few hours later as soon as he saw the little island they were looking for. "We're almost there now." He informed the sad looking girl sitting beside him. Aang frowned slightly and put his arm around her shoulder, rubbing her arm a little. "Just hang in there." He sighed, bringing them down closer and closer to land until they touched down just outside the little village Zuko had marked on the map for them.

"Aang…" Skye hesitated a moment before sliding down Appa's side after Aang. "What if we don't find him… because there's nothing left to find?"

"We won't know until we try." Aang smiled, trying to stay positive for her sake.

"I guess you're right." The small girl sighed, following Aang to the village. It wasn't hard to find Ashon, he was exactly were Zuko told them he'd be in the building that served as the center of the village. Besides that, the man had been more than willing to help them as soon as Aang told him who he was.

"Let me just search through my files." Ashon smiled after Skye went through her story once again. The girl frowned when she saw just how many files there were.

"Aang… I'm going to go out and get some fresh air okay?"

"Okay." Aang smiled softly when he turned to see the teary eyed look on her face. "Take all the time you need. I'll come find you if we find anything."

"Thanks." Skye sighed, standing on her toes so she could kiss Aang quickly before she went downstairs. Once she got outside she didn't have a clue as to where she was going, so she walked around mindlessly until she found herself at the beach. She looked out at the bright blue water and thought of her brother and they used to play at the beach together all the time when they were kids. "Kyon!" She cried, burying her face in her hands. "I need you to be okay! Please be okay!" She screamed at the ocean, falling to her knees in the sand as a deep sadness overcame her. She cried for hours before stopping, and even then she only stopped because she didn't have any tears left. Deflated she stared out at the ocean wishing for her brother as the sky changed colors before her eyes.

"Hey." A man's voice called to her. "I thought we'd find you here." Skye's eyes widened when she heard the voice. Her hands shook as she slowly brought herself to her feet and turned around to see a man with sandy-brown hair and piercing green eyes standing there beside Aang.

"Kyon!" She squeaked, tears starting to flow again as she ran to him as fast as her legs would allow and crushed herself against his chest. "You're okay…" Skye sobbed as she stood there holding her brother.

"I'm okay Skye." Kyon promised, wrapping his arms tight around her. "It's going to be alright now."


	33. The Missing Piece

A few days later Aang landed at the palace with Skye and her brother. Katara and Korra were there waiting for them when Appa landed, Zuko couldn't get anything by these two when it came to Aang.

"Aang!" Korra ran over to her brother, punching him in the arm a couple times. "Why did you go on a super cool Avatar mission without me!?" Korra's pouty face made Aang laugh.

"Sorry Korra… next time okay?" While Aang was talking to Korra, Kyon had jumped down from the saddle and helped Skye back down to the ground.

"Who's this?" Katara asked, looking to the green eyed man standing beside Skye.

"This is my brother." Skye told her. "Aang took me to go find him. I'm sure Zuko must have told you about that though." The girl's cheeks brightened a bit at the thought.

"He tried not to, I'll give him credit for that." Katara laughed. "How was the ride back?"

"Scary!" Aang interrupted. Korra sighed, throwing her hands up in the air thinking she'd missed yet another Avatar style adventure. Skye couldn't help but laugh.

"Aww, c'mon." Kyon clapped Aang on the back. "The rules are simple. You hurt her, I end you." Aang nodded at the earthbender. Katara and Korra laughed, they thought it was funny how Aang could face any opponent without the smallest hint of fear, but as soon as Skye's brother was brought into the equation things changed.

"I've known Aang for quite some time now, I can assure you Skye is in good hands." Katara smiled. "He'd never hurt her."

"We'll then he has nothing to worry about!" Kyon smiled at the older Avatar. The girls all laughed as a blush colored Aang's cheeks.

"Anyway… enough with all this mushy stuff. You promised me you'd teach me how to master the Avatar State." Korra looked up at Aang expectantly. Aang frowned slightly when he realized he had neglected his promise to his sister.

"I guess I did, didn't I? Let's go practice right now. Hopefully Toph isn't using the practice field."

"Wait! Did he say Toph was here?" Kyon asked Skye, his voice filled with excitement. "She's only the most powerful metalbender in the world! I have to see if she'll teach me!" Skye laughed at her brother's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, Toph is here. She's helping Bolin, one of Korra's friends, master his earthbending." Skye told him. "I'm sure she'd teach you too if you ask her nicely."

"Yeah!" Korra smiled. "You can come with us to find her."

"Really? That'd be great! Thanks!" Kyon grinned.

"Then it's settled." Aang smiled, he liked Kyon because he seemed so happy even though his past could have erased any joy from his life. Besides that he took protecting Skye very seriously… he'd made that clear on the ride home. Aang turned to look at Skye. "Are you going to be alright on your own for a few hours?"

"Actually, she doesn't have to be alone…" Katara chimed in. "I could show her around the city a little bit. I'm assuming she's never been to the Fire Nation before."

"Really?" Aang seemed surprised, he didn't really think Katara would like Skye much.

"Of course." Katara smiled. Skye seemed to like the idea quite a bit as well.

"It'll be fun Aang. You go teach Korra about the Avatar State, I'll be fine hanging out with Katara for the afternoon."

"Well okay." Aang smiled and kissed Skye on the cheek, he didn't dare give her a real kiss with Kyon right there. "Be careful and have fun." With that Aang motioned for Korra and Kyon to follow him to the other side of the palace.

"So where are we going first?" Skye asked, turning to Katara once the others were out of sight.

"We could go to the little shops in the center of town?" The waterbender suggested. Skye smiled.

"That sounds really fun!"

"Well then let's go." Katara led the way to the palace gates and yelled for the guards to let them out. Skye was impressed that they listened to her without argument.

"Do they do that for all of Zuko's friends?" She asked after a little while. Katara laughed a little.

"No. Zuko and I are engaged." She smiled. "It's not really a secret, but I guess we've all been so busy with Korra that it was pushed to the back burner."

"Wow… the Fire Lord." Skye shook her head, amazed. Katara laughed and painted on her own look of surprise.

"Wow… the Avatar." The waterbender couldn't help but laugh. "You really don't see his power do you?" Katara was intrigued by the idea. She'd never met anyone outside their group that didn't gape at Aang's title. Skye blushed slightly.

"It's not that I don't see it… it's just… I guess it doesn't matter to me." Skye sat down on the rock wall they were walking by. "I guess I don't care if he's the Avatar or not. I love him either way." Skye looked up at Katara then. "Have you ever had that feeling when your whole world just stops? Like maybe gravity can't keep you on the ground because you're just so happy? That's how I feel whenever I'm around Aang." Katara thought about the idea for a while before answering.

"That's how Zuko makes me feel." The older girl smiled, she knew the feelings Skye had for Aang meant that they were truly meant for each other.

"It's like he makes me feel lighter than air." The airbender smiled looking up at the sky, even thinking of Aang now makes me feel like that."

"I can tell." Katara sighed and sat down beside her. "You know Skye, I'll let you in on a little secret."

"Oh?" Skye looked at the girl intrigued by this.

"Aang has been my best friend ever since I found him in that iceberg all those years ago. We've laughed together, cried together… we've been through a lot. I was really worried when he first found you. I didn't want you to be another person to hurt him… he's been hurt too many times." Katara looked down at her shoes, her mind showed her the terrible memories as she talked to Skye. "He's lost his family, his friends, his whole nation, and it breaks my heart to see him broken."

"Katara…" Skye tried to interrupt but the waterbender held her hand up.

"Hold on, I'm not finished... Skye when he's with you he looks happier than I've ever seen him in the entire time I've known him." She sighed. "Korra is his family now, Sokka, Suki, Toph, Zuko, and I are his friends, and now airbending is back… that's everything that was taken from him before, but something still seemed to be missing." Katara finally looked at the girl. "You."

"Me?" Skye asked, she didn't seem to see how she fit in to all of this. Katara nodded.

"Out of all of those things I mentioned, I forgot one of the most important factors in what makes Aang, Aang. Love." Katara watched Skye's face carefully, she knew just by looking at her that she was the missing piece in Aang's life. "You give that to him Skye. I'm glad he has you in his life now."


	34. The Beginning of the End

Six short months later Aang found himself standing before Korra. She was no longer a scared little girl hiding her true power, she was a fully realized Avatar who, with the help of new friends and old, mastered all four elements and perfected the Avatar State. Now it was time to tell the world.

"Are you ready?" Aang asked as he picked a piece of Naga's fur off of the young Avatar's sleeve. Korra took a deep breath.

"No. But I'm going to do this anyway." She smiled at him, her eyes still held fear as she looked out at the audience that had gathered in the Fire Lord's yard. Mako caught her eye and gave her a small wave. Korra waved back before hiding behind the curtain again. "There are so many people." She whispered.

"It's alright. I'll be right there with you the whole time." Aang smiled, giving her a gentle push out onto the balcony when Zuko introduced them. Korra walked out onto the balcony with her chin held high, her walk was smooth and even despite the fact that she wanted to run and hide.

"Hello good people of the Fire Nation and others who have joined us here today." Aang started, earning a round of thunderous applause from the group. "As many of you have heard, there have been rumors going around that there is a second Avatar among us. People have said I have taken this new Avatar under my wing… taught them the powers of the Avatar State and helped them master the elements…" Aang looked down at Korra, he was filled with so much pride as he watched her.

"We are standing here today to tell you that the rumors are true." Korra swallowed her fear. "My name is Korra… and I am the Avatar." She nodded to Aang and together the two of them bended air, water, earth, and fire in a perfectly synchronized routine. The crowd gasped, most of them shocked by what they saw.

"By a unique string of events that doesn't need to become public knowledge at the moment the Avatar Spirit split twelve years ago…"

"That was the night I was born." Korra added. "And because water comes after air in the Avatar cycle it would only make sense that my native element is water." The young Avatar smiled, she was comfortable talking to these people. "Since Aang started training me I have earned the responsibility of the Avatar State, but more importantly, I have already begun to achieve my duties of bringing peace and balance back to the world."

"Korra and I have brought airbending back into the world. We have decided that it is time to try to find the new airbenders and train them to master the element, to embrace the new culture they now belong to." Aang smiled at Skye and Opal in the audience, they were his two favorite airbenders.

"The search to find the new airbenders will start as soon as possible." Korra told the crowd.

"We have already begun to teach two of the newest airbenders and the results are quite promising." Aang assured the people. The crowd seemed to be very happy about the news. Zuko had done a fine job changing his once feared nation into one that was just as loving and accepting as the other nations, it made Aang smile.

"The efforts to bring balance and peace to the world will always be my top priority." Korra announced taking a step closer to the people. "I promise to put the world first… to put the wellbeing of the four nations first. The group of people erupted into loud applause as Korra stood as close to the edge of the balcony as possible and smiled down at them. "I am honored to serve by Aang's side as your newest Avatar!"

…

"You did amazing today." Mako told Korra as he sat down beside her for dinner with the others. After the actual speech Korra and Aang had spent the rest of the day in the crowd meeting their fans. Korra had been worried for no reason, she was naturally born to address her people.

"She really did." Aang agreed, elbowing Korra playfully. "Better than me even!"

"Are you kidding?" Opal smiled looking at the airbender. "You did great! All the people loved you!"

"Thanks!" Aang grinned at the girl, she really was a sweet kid.

"Well I don't know which of you gave the better speech, but you clearly showed you can work together which says a lot about having two Avatars." Sokka added. Suki nodded in agreement.

"I'm just glad the world knows there are two of us now." Korra admitted. "I don't know why I thought it was going to be so scary."

"Because your mother and father made it that way." Zuko told her. "Harsh parents can get their children to do things they shouldn't… I mean look at me or even better, look at Azula."

"Now I don't think that's fair." Azula grinned. "I think I turned out flawlessly." Everyone at the table stopped eating to look at her.

"You're kidding…" Toph asked in disbelief. Azula rolled her eyes and stuffed her mouth with some of the roast duck on her plate.

"Anyway…" Katara looked back at Aang and Korra. "Now that Korra told the world who she really is, don't you think it's time she went home and faced Tonraq and Senna?" Korra sighed at the older waterbender's idea.

"I don't know Katara. Bringing peace to the world is a lot different than having peace at home." Korra sighed, moving her food around.

"I don't know Korra, it might be a good thing." Aang sighed. "They haven't been completely understanding before, but maybe now that the whole world is behind you, they'll at least listen."

"Why don't we split up?" Asami asked. "I mean, I know it's not ideal, but maybe it's what's going to have to happen for now?"

"It makes sense." Kyon agreed. Everyone else reluctantly came to the same idea as well. They spent the rest of the night talking about what the best path for everyone would be right now. Everyone agreed on the plan they'd come up with and decided they'd be leaving as soon as they had their things together.

Aang and Korra were the last two to call it a night and head to their rooms for the night. They said their goodnights in the hallway and then went in their respective rooms. Korra sighed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror and started undoing her hair, she was _not_ looking forward to seeing her parents again. Thoughts of them screaming at Aang and telling him the 'Avatar wasn't welcome in their home' floated through her mind as she laid in bed trying to fall asleep. She'd almost gotten them out of her head and drifted off to sleep when she heard the unmistakable sound of glass breaking down the hall.

"Korra!" Aang threw her door open moments later, he'd heard the sound too.

"What is it?!" Korra asked as she hurried to throw her robe on and run with Aang down the hallway.

"Kuaza!" Aang yelled as he stood in the doorway of Skye's bedroom. The evil woman had Skye pulled tight against her, a sharp blade holding her in place while a large needle was held dangerously close in her other hand.

"She's gonna take her bending!" Korra cried, she recognized this from when Kuaza had done the same thing to her.

"No. She's. Not!" Aang screamed, his eyes flickering bright blue.


	35. The End

**A/N: Okay guys, this is going to be the end for this story! We made it! Hope you enjoy the final chapter…**

* * *

"What's going on?" Kyon yelled to Korra as she left Skye's room. "I heard screaming…" He explained to Korra quickly, he sounded worried. Korra frowned and pulled at his hand as she ran past him.

"There's no time to stop." She told him. "The palace has been breached. Kuaza has Skye." The young Avatar raced through the halls with the earthbender.

"Then why are we running away from Skye's room!" Kyon asked, his voice sounded like it was on the edge of hysteria as he stopped short in the middle of the hallway and yanked Korra's arm. The tiny Avatar frowned trying to pull her arm loose.

"Aang's in the Avatar State, it'll buy us some time but we need to help him! If we come in through the window like Kuaza did we should be able to catch her off guard and save your sister!" Korra frowned as she heard more glass breaking and new screams coming from further down the hall. Kyon knew this had to be too much for the little Avatar girl to handle in her first solo fight.

"Korra, remember what you said in your speech." He placed his hand on both of her shoulders. "You can do this. I believe in you." Korra nodded slightly and balled her hands into fists.

"Go help Aang." She ordered, waiting for Kyon to nod before she sprinted down the hall to investigate the screaming.

"Help!" Opal yelled, she sounded terrified. Korra didn't hesitate for a second, she kicked the door in and ran in. Opal was crying hysterically as a man in all black tried to get to her. She was standing with her back to the wall, all she could do to fight back was send powerful bursts of wind towards her opponent, but every time she managed to knock him over he'd get up again before she had time to run.

"Opal!" Korra yelled, stomping her foot on the ground as she pulled three slabs of earth together to lock the man in a stone prison. The tiny airbender ran to Korra quickly and wrapped her arms around waist.

"Korra! I was so scared!" She sobbed. Korra held her there for a few moments before she pulled away, she didn't mean to be insensitive but she needed to help the others too.

"Opal, the rest of the palace is under attack too. I have to go…"

"I'm coming with you." Opal answered.

"Let's go then." Korra told her as she ran out into the hall. The girls were met with complete and utter chaos. Fire, water, and earth was flying in every direction as they looked around. Right away Korra had to dodge one of Kuaza's chi blockers and trap him in a block of ice with some water that'd spilt on the ground. Not ten seconds later a woman came up from behind hoping to gain the upper hand, it was like the bad guys were drawn to her. With the use of the Avatar State and help from her friends, Korra fought her way through Kuaza's army with ease. By the time the royal guard had been alerted to the breach in security all they had to do was collect the injured group of attackers and bring them to the palace's prison to await Zuko's word on what would become of them.

"Is everyone out here alright?" Aang asked, his normally cheery expression was replaced with worry and a little bit of anger as he stepped out into the hallway with Skye. Kyon dragged an unconscious Kuaza out with him.

"Everyone out here is fine." Katara smiled at Aang trying to ease his worry. "How are you three?" She asked Aang as she looked over to Skye. The young woman seemed to be in perfect condition.

"We're all okay." Skye answered for him softly, she tightened her hold around Aang's waist and he rubbed her arm and kissed her head. Kyon shook his head, disgusted with Kuaza as the guards took her off his hands.

"Aang, you went above and beyond what you needed to do. Thank you for protecting my little sister." He patted Aang's shoulder. "I trust you with her unconditionally, you're good for her."

"Thank you." Aang smiled back. Kyon's blessing meant a lot to him because Aang knew the earthbender was a very important part of Skye's life.

"Pardon the interruption Fire Lord Zuko, but we have done a thorough search of the rest of the palace and found nothing else out of the ordinary. What should we do with your prisoners?

"By choosing to attempt their attack while on palace grounds I feel that they have committed treason against the royal family and they're distinguished guests. I want them sent to the Boiling Rock immediately." Zuko looked around at his friends, they all seemed to think this was fair.

…

A few days after Kuaza's attack on the palace things returned to normal. The group of friends worked together to restore the palace and go over new security measures for any future attacks that might occur. After they were done they solidified their plans of action and got their things ready to go on their own missions.

"Well, I guess this is it..." Suki sighed. Her words echoed the feelings of the entire group as they stood in their separate groups waiting to take on the world.

"Yeah…" We won't be seeing much of each other for a while." Bolin frowned. He was sad that he wouldn't be seeing Mako or Opal for a while, he'd decided to go with Kyon and Toph to look for airbenders in the Earth Kingdom.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Opal ran to him and hugged him. Aang had offered to take the young girl with him and Skye to the Air Temples. There were a few acolytes living there who had reported airbenders had started popping up there.

"I feel like we all just got together and now we're being separated." Asami sighed. She was leaving with Suki and Sokka to hone her fighting skills while she helped them look for airbenders in the Northern and Southern Water Tribes.

"It will only be for a little while." Aang promised them. "Finding the new airbenders is very important to helping the world being brought back to peace and balance."

"But Aang, I'm the Avatar too. Why don't I get to help find airbenders?" Korra sighed. Aang put his hand on her shoulder.

"You can't begin to bring peace and balance to the world while your own life is in so much chaos. You need to go home and talk to Tonraq and Senna. Smooth things over with them and then you'll be ready to help the world."

"It won't be that bad." Katara smiled. "You and I will have a great time in Republic City. Once we talk to your parents we're going to need a place to train all those new airbenders. What better place than a city founded on the basis that all four nations are equal?"

"I guess you're right." Korra sighed. Her eyes full of sadness she looked to her boyfriend, who was going to be spending the next few months helping Azula and Zuko find airbenders in the Fire Nation while they helped him with his own bending. "I'm going to miss you." She admitted.

"I'm going to miss you more." Mako smiled, hugging her tight for a moment while everyone else got in their final goodbyes as well. It wasn't long after that the airships, saddles, and boats were loaded up and everyone people started off in their separated directions. Korra and Aang's groups were the last to leave.

"All set?" Skye called down to Aang after he'd passed up the last of their supplies. The airbender sighed softly noticing that Korra and Katara were just about ready to leave as well. He had grown to really love the tiny Avatar girl he called his sister. He was going to miss her.

"Yeah, just give me a second." He smiled up to Skye and Opal before crossing the yard to where Naga was waiting to carry the two waterbenders to the docks where their boat was waiting. "Hey." He called to Korra.

"Hey yourself." She answered sadly.

"I'm going to really miss you ya know." Aang opened his arms for her, Korra ran to him and hugged him tight.

"I'm going to miss you too big brother." Korra buried her face in Aang's robes so he wouldn't see the tears threatening to spill down her face. "This is going to be the longest few months ever! I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

"You'll be fine." Aang smiled and pulled away from her a little bit. "You're going to do great things, Korra. I believe in you."

"Korra!" Katara yelled over to the young Avatar as she ran across the yard to her, she'd forgotten her water pouch in the palace and gone to retrieve it. "Are you ready to go now?" She asked. The younger waterbender smiled slightly and nodded, Aang's words had inspired her.

"I'm ready to go." She answered, climbing up onto Naga's back. Katara got on behind her. "See you in a few months." She called down to her brother. "You're going to do great too." She smiled down to Aang, before facing forward in her saddle, ready to take on the world.

* * *

**A/N:** **So, that was it. The end of Imbalance! I hope you liked it and would really appreciate a review telling me if you did. Also I thought you guys might want to know that just because Imbalance is over doesn't mean I'm done writing about my twisted two Avatars AU. **

"**Balance" – This will be a **_**possible**_** sequel following everyone's lives after the events of this story.**

"**Freedom in Stone" – This is already being posted. It follows Skye's life when she was a child.**

"**Lighter than Air" – This one is dedicated to my best friend and will be all Skyaa (Skye and Aang).**


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